Banished
by R4yR4y
Summary: After he is chosen to kill the Monstrous Nightmare Hiccup decides that there is only one place for him to go, away from Berk. Vikings and Dragons can't live in peace, so he'll just have to wander on the borders of the ancient war. But fate hasn't forgotten about Hiccup, and when he finds a tribe of Nomads he quickly learns that viking and dragon can live side by side.
1. Chapter 1, Leaving

**Banished, Chapter 1, Leaving**

 **[Early Autumn, year one]**

* * *

The dense forest of the isle of Berk had often seen hunters get lost or walking around in circles. The few animals that lived here didn't make it worth hunting for since there was a considerable chance for them to get attacked by any dragons that lived there. At least, that is what the villagers though to be true. It wasn't true at all.

Hiccup had been to the forest many times. Using it as a place to escape the clutches of the village, the disappointing scowls, the annoyed stares. In the forest he wasn't the runt, he wasn't the disappointment, he wasn't the hiccup. Instead, he was free, he was on his own. No one to say that they are disappointed, and no one to glare at him. He had the space and freedom to think, to look around, and to experiment with new things without everyone around him seeking cover. Here he wasn't cast out, he wasn't different, and he wasn't looked down on.

That was because no one was there.

That was the reason he went here, to the forest. There was no one, here he could do anything, and no one would be there to check it, to prevent it. At least, that was how it had been. That was how it had been before he had finally done something that they might accept. He had shot down a dragon, a Night Fury no less. He had finally done something that could made him a loved member of his tribe, something that could have made him respected and accepted in his own home. That was, if he had told them.

He had never felt so bad about himself. The downed dragon, which he had dubbed Toothless after a misunderstanding with feeding him a fish, proved to be a real friend, his only friend. He could understand him. He could talk with him, as strange as that might be. He understood him, and he didn't mind that he was different. They were both a bit different. Quite a bit, in fact.

He had done it, the first Viking to down a Night Fury. But he didn't just down him, he also tamed it.

Had he tamed him though? He didn't feel like it. Toothless didn't need taming, he wasn't some wild beast that was ferocious unless it was broken into pieces and rebuilt the way you liked it. No, he was a gentle and caring creature, who only needed to be understood and trusted to let him into your inner circle. Then everything was fine, everything was perfect.

He was the first, the first to live in harmony with a dragon. It was a strange idea, dragons and Vikings, living together. Would it work? Dragons were wild and powerful creatures, they could travel long distances by air and could easily move around the archipelago. Vikings couldn't do that. Vikings would find a wet heap of rocks to settle on, staying in one place to make sure that they were able to build farms and strong homes. To make a fleet for fishing and fighting, something that Vikings loved dearly.

It was clear, dragons and Vikings were too different to live together in a society, but he had at least discovered that peace was possible. He moved further through the wet and muddy forest. It hadn't rained in a bit, which was quite spectacular for the place they lived. He didn't complain though, it was a lot easier to walk through the forest when it only had the occasional puddle of mud and slippery rock on his path.

He calmly walked the familiar path, it was the safest way to head to Toothless. The path wasn't straight and clear, and he had to move through quite a bit of thick bushes to get there. He did this on purpose. Because he didn't want someone to discover a clear path towards the cove where his new best friend resided. He carefully had created this path to minimize the chance of his dragon being discovered, because that would be the worst thing that could now happen to him now.

But this was where he stopped following the path, he had the choice. Finish his walk of shame across the original path, taking a longer way and making sure that he couldn't be followed; or just go there straight and be able to leave earlier.

Perhaps if he had made a different choice our story would deviate, perhaps he'd stay on Berk, and safe his village from their doom as they tried the impossible. He could be a hero, a saviour to his people. Perhaps he could.

He adjusted the strap of the basket he carried on his back. Filled with some food and a blanket. As well as a flask for fresh water. And he decided to walk straight through the forest. The earlier he was able to get there the better. He felt around his hip, where a small sack hung from his belt. It contained a bit of hack-silver he had taken from the forge, Gobber wouldn't be missing it, and he could definitely use it.

The idea of forever living alone in the forest was appealing to him, he could perhaps build a small home, create a suitable place to live for him and Toothless, but he was no fool. Sooner rather than later he would have to head to some kind of civilization, trading whatever he had for tools, materials, and most importantly, food.

The only food he currently carried with him was a piece of fresh meat, he had gotten it from the butcher earlier that day, and it had been so fresh that it was still pretty bloody. It had already soaked a part of his blanket, and there was also a bit on the inside of the basket. It was a mess really, he should have brought bread or something like that, but in a dire situation, meat was more useful, since he could use it to lure animals away from him. And it was worth more than bread a piece of bread.

He had come here so many times, walking around the tall trees and the fallen logs to calm himself, to escape the busy life of the village. It was almost funny that the last time he would spend here would be during his final escape.

He couldn't stay, even if he wanted too. Everything would crumble down, what was he going to do, calm the Nightmare in the ring like he had done with Toothless? Try to be his friend? It wouldn't work. Hiccup had learned a few things in his time on the isle of Berk, and one of those things was that nothing is thicker than the skull of a Viking.

He pushed a branch out of the way carefully, not wanting the twig to return the favour and hitting him back. It wasn't uncommon for that to happen, and he had experienced it multiple times now. He calmly ducked as he made his way through the thicker foliage, walking through parts of the forest that weren't easy to navigate.

He had trouble with it, but that wasn't unexpected. His legs slipped in the muddy soils sometimes, which wasn't dangerous if the land around him was flat, but it wasn't. To his right was a gully, it wasn't a long way down, and if he slipped it would only bruise him a bit, but he still preferred to not tumble down a hillside. He walked carefully, trying to not break too many twigs and not to leave to clear footprints. They would discover that he went missing eventually, and even if he wasn't the pride of the island, they would look for him. Especially now that he excelled this much in dragon training.

In fact, because he exceeded so much in dragon training, someone was already looking for him. A bit behind our unsuspecting hero, there was movement. Swift and trained, carefully sneaking behind the boy to see where he was heading every day. He was acting weird lately, well, weirder. He used to be the clumsiest Viking on the entire island. Sure, he excelled in the smithy, but then again, once he stepped outside, disaster was imminent.

It didn't bother her that he had become better, it was good. He was still clumsy, she could see that. The way he tried to lift a shield while holding it incorrectly, or the time he tried to roll but managed to screw it up halfway through. It all proved that he hadn't changed that much. But when it came to the interaction with dragons, it was almost eerie.

He suddenly became a master, knocking the beasts out of the fight with his bare hands. It was like he had full control over them, like he knew all the ins and outs of the large monsters. It was strange, very strange. This was wat annoyed Astrid, he had suddenly become way too good, way too fast. That wasn't possible, someone didn't just become so good. She had trained for years and he was rising to, and now apparently beyond, her level of skill.

It made her angry, extremely angry. He was cheating, he had to be. Was he somehow drugging the dragons before the matches and trainings? Putting some sort of herbs in the fish they fed them to make sure they fell before his feet. It could be, but it would require an extreme amount of luck to have the dragons always drop right before they attacked him. Hiccup had proven to be clever, if not smart, so he wasn't going to risk getting eaten alive just so he could win. He wasn't that kind of person.

Or so she thought, she thought she knew Hiccup. Small skinny boy, usually there when you don't want him to be, and gone when you actually need to see him. Like now, she cursed underneath her breath. Instead of just following the boy to where he was going she would now have to actually track him down.

She calmly inspected the ground, following the broken twigs and crunched leaves. It made a clear path, and although Hiccup was clearly trying to make sure he couldn't be followed, she could still find his trail. She moved with swift haste, hoping to catch up with the boy and be able to just continue following him.

Hiccup was indeed out of her sight, he was slowly trying to get down the hillside, which had been steeper than he had thought. He could have done two things, try to walk back the way he came and take the long route he always took, or try to climb down the hillside. He had chosen for the last option, it would probably be the best thing to do, since he would still arrive earlier at the cove. And the earlier he was there, the sooner he was gone.

But the hill had been much steeper than he had though, and he was leaning against a tree that stood there to make sure he couldn't fall down. He made sure to try to dig his feet into the soft soil as much as he could, that way he could form some sort of steps to easily descend the side of the hill. It had worked for about half the hill, and he was actually pretty proud of himself. He had just climbed down a steep hill that the average Viking would have walked around.

His moment of joy was short lived though, as he heard, and felt, a twig snap underneath his feet. He didn't even have a second to curse as he felt his leg slip, desperately trying to find grip on the steep hillside. He threw himself against the dirt, his hands trying to find something to grab. Moss, small plants, anything. But the few small saplings that he were within his reach proved too young, and he pulled them out of the ground with shocking ease.

Without anything to stop him or hold him in place he tumbled down, sliding down the hill before a failed attempt to catch himself on a tree caused him to roll further down. He bit his lip as he rolled, and he let out soft grunts as he fell, he didn't want anyone who also happened to be in the woods to hear him. Because that would surely ruin his plans.

He hill ended abruptly, and so did his fall. He made three more tumbles before he came to a sudden halt against a tree, his body definitely bruised. He groaned softly, lying still for a bit, his body slowly absorbing the pain until it gently faded away. He slowly opened his eyes. Scolding himself for celebrating too early.

He got up, his back not agreeing with him trying to continue, but it would have to do. He looked around, and could see that he had left a clear trail on the hill beside him, there were clear tracks where he slipped, where you could clearly see how he had struggled to try to stay there, pieces of weed were pulled out of the ground and a few small plants had been crushed as he rolled down.

He looked around again, hoping that his little struggle with the hill hadn't revealed his presence to anyone who might be in the woods with him. His eyes caught movement up the hill, where a single branch moved softly. This wasn't too strange, it was a small branch, so it could have easily been caught by wind or perhaps a bird landed on it. But his tumble would probably have scared any small wildlife away.

He looked further, spotting the small basket with supplies a few paces away from him, he calmly went to grab it, but was distracted as something tiny rolled down the hill, originating from the same place he saw the branch move. Hiccup, curious as ever, could clearly see that this wasn't a piece of dirt. Perhaps it was a nut or fruit, which could indicate that there was indeed a small animal up there. He swung the basket over his shoulder and calmly walked to the object that had rolled down the hill. It was lying in some grass, the sun shining through the foliage to shine upon the item like it had some more significant meaning, like it was a gift from gods.

A ray of light reflected from it, the glimpse catching his eye. This was the first indicator that surprised Hiccup, fruits and nuts didn't reflect light, at least not as strongly as that item just had. He kneeled down and picked it up. Observing the small piece of metal carefully, it was flat, and looked like it could be clasped onto something. But it was only when he turned it around, that he felt fear sink into him.

It was a small, decorative, iron skull.

* * *

Astrid had cursed to herself when Hiccup almost saw her, luckily he was occupied with descending the hill. She calmly waited on top, seeing that Hiccup had left a clear path downwards, kicking the nose of his shoe into the hillside to create steps for himself, clever.

However, then he had tumbled, and Astrid had winced as she saw the boy roll down the hill and stop as he hit the tree. That would have hurt, he lay there motionless, only a soft groan escaping his lips. Astrid carefully looked if he was okay, he didn't seem to be hurt, well, hurt badly. But she quickly had to dive back when the boy's eyes opened again, looking around him calmly.

She quickly pushed herself into the bushes of trees, the branches shaking softly as she tried not to give away her position. She had pushed herself back against a tree, but not everything of her had made it. One of the skulls of her skirt lay on the edge of the hillside, and Astrid cursed to herself. It had probably got hooked behind a branch or something and had been pulled off. She quickly checked her skirt and discovered that one of the iron skulls was indeed missing. She sighed heavily, knowing that Hiccup could probably see it there, lying on the side of the hill.

She calmly laid down on her belly, careful not to cause herself to be visible over the ridge of the hill. She slowly crawled closer to the edge, reaching out with her hand to try and grab the small shiny piece of metal that was almost ruining all her plans. She just had to reach a bit further to grab it.

Her finger brushed gently against the metal, and her eyes went wide and it shifted, the small piece of dirt that it lay on was unstable and unpredictable, and she saw the metal disappear behind the ridge, rolling downhill.

She cursed softly as she heard a soft rustling, indicating that the piece of metal had landed safely somewhere down the hill. She feared for her secrecy as she heard soft footsteps approach the skull, followed with a soft and curious sigh. Hopefully he didn't realise, maybe he would think that she lost it when she was out practising something, like her hill climbing.

These dreams were crushed when she suddenly heard more rustling, quick and loud. She listened closely as she heard it grow softer and softer as it went further away. She looked up from her position, seeing that the place were Hiccup had just been was now vacant, a freshly made path through the forest clearly visible. Created by Hiccup, quickly running away as he had discovered that he was being followed. He knew she followed him now.

Astrid cursed loudly as she nimby threw herself over the ridge of the hill, slowly and carefully climbing down the hill. She first used the steps Hiccup had kicked into the soft soil, glad that they were tested and proved to work very well. She only now realised what the lead was that Hiccup had gained on her, since the cliff proved to be a tough one to descend. It was slow and difficult work, and when she finally reached the part where Hiccup had slipped she realised that she still had halfway to go. She used her anger to kick the steps into the soil. Two swift kicks being all that it takes for her to make a small hole in which her foot, and later her hand, could find good support.

When she was near to the ground, about her own length away from it, she jumped, her feet sinking a bit further into the dirt to launch her away from the cliff. She landed with a graceful roll, picking a leave from her hair as she set out to follow the path that Hiccup had clearly left in his wake.

* * *

Hiccup now had a proper lead on Astrid, who he knew was following him. It didn't surprise him, Astrid was extremely competitive, and he hadn't expected to get away with winning so easily. He had realised it directly when he found the little skull. He had already been suspicious that he was running into her more and more often when he was in the woods, sometimes she was practising with her axe. Taking, what he assumed to be, anger out on innocent trees. Other times she was just sitting somewhere, sharpening her axe with that damned stone. She would cast this calm but threatening look at him, like she was sharpening the axe specifically for him. It was fuel for nightmares.

He ran as fast as he could, Astrid no doubt close on his heels. He didn't care if he left a clear trail, he would just have to make sure that he would be at the cove before her. Sure, he had lied to her before when she questioned him, but he wasn't taking his chances with her when the two were alone in the forest. She would skin him alive if she discovered that he'd been cheating, and then she'd tell the village about Toothless.

It was amazing how good he was at not screwing up when he was panicked, he dodged roots and branches with expert precision, probably a side effect from fearing for your own and your best friend's life. He wasn't really looking forward to receiving punishment while they hung Toothless' head from a wall in the great hall. I mean, he himself could also have been executed, although they'd probably banish him. But he wasn't sure he would be able to survive, let alone want to live, without Toothless.

It might sound dramatic for an animal he only knew for a few weeks or so, but it was true. The dragon had been so kind to him after the initial fear they both held for each other. But now they were even. They could talk, they could play. Hiccup had never guessed that ever in his life he'd play tag with a dragon, a Night Fury no less. It really was a strange time for him to live in.

But he didn't feel bad for befriending their former enemy, they were misunderstood creatures. They were kind and peaceful, and when he saw Toothless chasing something like a butterfly or a shimmer of light reflecting from a piece of metal it was difficult to think that these were the creatures that raided his home.

Well, his home, in the last weeks that had also changed. His home had slowly changed from his own house and his own village to the cove, where he would spend most of his time, sometimes even nights, together with Toothless. It may not be the smartest thing to do, but that way he could spend a lot of time with him without constantly having to walk between the village and the cove, which would increase the risk of him being discovered.

It helped that his father was gone though. Sailing out on their heroic journeys which could lead them to the gates of Valhalla. Or in this case, Helheim's gate. He had heard the stories from the elders, a large wall of fog that shrouded the island of dragons. They were certain that the nest was in there, but sharp rocks and sea stacks were difficult to navigate with the thick mist. And the dragons that protected their home made it even more dangerous.

He was glad that he'd never have to deal with that again, the raids, the battles, it would all be the past soon. The only thing he'd need to do now was get to Toothless, nothing else mattered. Astrid had seen him, so what. She could see him fly away on Toothless for all he cared. He'd like to see her face as he flew away from Berk, disappearing into the distant skies.

He didn't care much for them anymore, all he needed to do was leave. If he could just go away, put all of this behind him, then it would be all good. He wouldn't have to worry about having to kill a dragon, something that had been a dream for him just a month ago. So much had changed for him. But it wouldn't go as easily for his old village though.

His old village, he was already cutting his ties with them. They weren't his tribe, they weren't his people. He couldn't say that he didn't care for their safety or their wellbeing, but he could say that he wasn't going to stick around to ensure it.

In all of his thoughts he hadn't noticed how close he was to the cove, but he quickly noticed his normal path. It was clearer than where he had been thinking which way he was going to take. The closer he got to the cove, the more confident he had gotten, and also excited. It was always a sigh of relieve to him that he was close, close to seeing Toothless again. He quickly ran down the path, which headed to the narrow entrance of the cove. It started going downhill, and Hiccup had to watch out that he wasn't going to run too fast and trip over his own legs. He stopped at the edge of the cliff, moving sideways to the path that he could easily climb down.

He still wasn't the most athletic, but he had mastered the small rock wall thanks to his regular visits to the cove. He could climb down it with incredible speed, something he was sure Astrid couldn't match him in.

But that didn't matter, he was home free. He jumped the last bit, quickly running towards Toothless' who was already running towards the entrance when he heard his rider running towards the cove, something that he never did. But of course Hiccup had to trip again, this time by a small pit in the sand, he fell flat on his chest, the strap of the basket breaking and the contents spilling out.

"Prepare for a flight bud." He said as he stood up and ran back to the basket, the contents lying in the sand. He quickly grabbed the flask, Toothless looking curiously at the sand-covered meat, sniffing at it before quickly eating it. Hiccup turned around to find his supply of food gone, he looked at the chewing dragon, pieces of the meat hanging from his mouth.

"Toothless." Hiccup wined, scolding the dragon as he looked at him. "That was my food."

Toothless was fine with that, the meat was filled with sand and it wasn't tasty at all, the blood had a metallic taste that he didn't like. The dragon spat it out on the ground, some of the blood dripping from his mouth into the sand. Hiccup looked at it in disgust, usually when his dragon did this the food would be relatively untouched, only covered in saliva, but the pile of small and slimy pieces of meat that now lay in front of him proved that this was not always the case.

"We'll get something else." Hiccup said as he saw Toothless turning his ears to the cliff side, probably hearing Astrid approaching. "Now let's go." But Toothless wasn't about to leave the food for small animals like Terrible Terrors, he was a kind dragon, but he didn't want to share much. A short stream of his purple, plasma fuelled fire was enough to burn the pieces of meat to mere ashes.

Hiccup swung himself onto Toothless' back, connecting the small ropes that made sure he would be able to stay on the back of the dragon to the saddle. He gave a soft tug on them and tested the prosthetic. It all worked fine. Toothless looked up, his rider was in a hurry today, surprising to be honest, usually they played a bit before they flew, but he wasn't complaining.

"Go, now." He said to Toothless, who was eating the regurgitated meat again, he turned his head away from the meat and preparing to take off. He took a few steppes, accidently stepping on the basket that Hiccup had dropped. He only needed a quick leap and a few beats of his wings, and then he was up in the air, flying away from the cove, and the island, that had been their home.

* * *

Astrid ran through the forest as quickly as she could, Hiccup was clearly running from her. And he knew these parts better than her, so it wouldn't be difficult for him to hide somewhere. Luckily, now that he was running and not even trying to cover his track he was leaving a clear path through the forest, and because he hand swatted and broken the twigs and branches that were in the way it made it easier for her to follow.

She was thinking about what his plan was. Was he trying to warn the person he was heading to? Was he going to destroy evidence or something? Maybe he was just scared of her and ran away. Or maybe he hadn't realised that he was being followed and had though the skull to be an omen of death or something.

She really didn't know what was going on until she heard the beating of wings ahead of her. Her feet felt heavier as she heard a dragon roar loudly. It came from ahead, where Hiccup had headed.

Astrid suddenly felt fearful, what if Hiccup had been cheating, and he wasn't ready to take on a wild dragon. He had just ran right into the worst enemy there was, almost completely defenceless. She had forced him to run into it.

She forced herself to run faster, her panicked state of mind causing her to miss the path that Hiccup had actually taken. She had to force herself to stop quickly, as she stood on the edge of a small cove. She looked down into it, in her panic searching for Hiccup, who was nowhere to be seen. She could only see a few items lying on the sand down in the cove.

She stepped back from the edge of the rocky wall. Her heartbeat rising and her breath becoming ragged and fast. She turned around, running back to Berk as fast as she could. She feared that something unthinkable had happened to Hiccup, and it didn't help that she heard a loud dragon roar, followed by a faint but familiar scream in the distance.

* * *

He didn't know why he screamed, he just felt like it. He was free, finally free. And after Toothless had roared so loudly he felt like it was only fitting that he did the same. He could do whatever he and his dragon desired. Whatever they wished to do. However they wished to do it. He could fly around the world, explore everything that he ever wanted to. Sure, it hadn't exactly went as Hiccup had expected it to go, since Astrid intervened, but that didn't matter too much. He only lost the meat and the blanket.

He could sleep underneath Toothless' wing, he had done it in the cove before. It was amazing that the dragon allowed it, actually wrapping its wing around him more tightly like some sort of warm hug. And they could fish for food. A well-aimed plasma blast at a school of fish was more than enough to stun them and make them easy to grab. They would do great.

"This is amazing!" Hiccup shouted loudly as he drummed on the back of Toothless' saddle, leaning over to scratch the dragon on the side of its head. He crooned softly, enjoying the gentle scratches.

The dragon flew calmly, enjoying the attention he was getting from his rider, he enjoyed the late flights they would occasionally make, but he loved to fly through the night sky, the darkness around him enveloping him completely. But they would have to wait a while before it turned dark.

Hiccup felt extremely excited, but also nervous, this was it, and there was no turning back now. He had done it, he had left. He would never have to fight dragons, he could just live freely, exploring and travelling with Toothless.

He could see the world, discover things that Vikings would never dream about seeing before, he could live with dragons instead of Vikings, they had proven to be just as protective, if not more, and were excellent hunters and gatherers.

It could work, a simple forge could be made by a bunch of rocks and a Deadly Nadder, who's fire was enough to heat metal in a couple of seconds. Perhaps he could convince some Gronckle to move some logs for him, so he could even make a shelter pretty easily. He wasn't planning on getting close to any Monstrous Nightmares anytime soon, he felt like those were still a bit out of his expertise. He also decided that Zipplebacks were forbidden territory for now, since they were unpredictable and also very dangerous.

Now that he thought of it, a Zippleback, a Deadly Nadder, a Gronckle and a Nightmare were all still trapped on Berk, locked in cages without ever hoping to be free again. They were misunderstood and innocent creatures, why should they deserve to stay there? Hiccup couldn't just leave them, he just couldn't. He didn't know why the dragons raided, but he knew that they were perfectly capable of acting nicely, if you just showed them the proper respect and love first. It wasn't surprising that they didn't trust you at first, Vikings and dragons have been killing each other for centuries.

He had to save them, it felt wrong to just fly off, enjoying his freedom while nice and innocent dragon were trapped on the island, he couldn't just leave them to their fate. Toothless let out a surprised noise as Hiccup shifted the tailfin, the dragon and him calmly flying towards Berk, the sun creeping closer and closer to the sea that they could see on the horizon.

"Don't worry bud." Hiccup said calmly, his nervousness slowly rising. "But we just can't leave the other dragons to die."

Toothless let out a happy but cautious warble, he knew that they were heading to Berk, and Hiccup seemed determined, but he didn't feel comfortable around the island. Although they could very well be almost invisible under the cover of darkness he didn't like going towards the village alone, he always travelled with the other dragons, since they usually distracted the fire from him.

He stopped flapping his wings, calmly letting his wings carry him further, gliding closer and closer to Berk. The sun slowly sunk below the sea, turning the dimly lit world around them into one of darkness. The only light being the soft glow that still hung above the sea, and the dim light that came from Berk, the village always somewhat lit during the night, for the sentries to spot dragons more easily.

Luckily for them they had focussed their defence around their supplies of food, and they didn't have the arena that heavily defended. It was locked by a simple system for Vikings, but dragons couldn't figure out what the combination of levers and cogs did. Luckily for them they were a team of both a dragon and a human.

They arrived under the cover of darkness. The odd guard that would occasionally check the arena was probably eating his dinner, so Hiccup had plenty of time to release the dragons, although he wasn't quite sure how to do that yet. He calmly slid of Toothless' back after he had disconnected the chord that kept him in the saddle, and he slowly walked into the arena. The large gate that could seal it during training and matched was open, probably left that way by the guard, who trusted in the strength of the pens to keep the dragons in.

It didn't take long for him to realise that he couldn't just release the dragons, if anyone would look it would be evident that someone had opened the cages, and it would be suspected that it was someone of the village. That would have repercussions, and could even lead to someone being executed. Hiccup didn't want that blood on his hands.

He had to either make it look like the dragons escaped themselves, or that they had somehow been helped by a different dragon, but both of those possibilities were difficult to achieve. He could let Toothless blast the logs and beams blocking the door, but that would probably only startle the dragons and would perhaps even alert the village before he was able to release them all.

It only occurred to him later that he was actively planning to sabotage Berk, his home. He hadn't had meant to step foot on the rock ever again, especially so soon after his leave. But here he was, once again standing in the arena. Perhaps he wanted to do this to prove himself, or maybe to definitely cut all his ties with the island. If he did this, he was certain that he would never return, because if the truth did surface, he'd be dead.

He slowly looked around as he walked into the arena, Toothless following behind him. He looked at his dragon nervously, he shouldn't do this, he should just leave and run away, flying off into the dark of night, but he couldn't, he wasn't able to tear his eyes away from the four doors that were built into the wall of the arena. Most of the doors had a simple mechanism to lock them, a large log or beam lay calmly rested in two holders, one on each door, they effectively kept the wild and dangerous dragons inside, who would usually spend their day kicking and hitting the door with their full bodies, just to be able to escape, but now it was calm, so they were probably already asleep.

Only one door had a more intricate system, the door of the Monstrous Nightmare, the door to his cage was locked by two logs, which rested on top of each other, one of the logs would disappear down into the ground, while the other would be lifted upward. The door was extra heavy, and was specially designed to be able to hold the most powerful dragons.

But what if Hiccup could somehow weaken them, allowing the dragons themselves to break them open. It would make everything look like an accident, and that way the arena would be inoperable for a while. Winter would be coming in a few moons, and the raid always stopped during the colder months, Hiccup guessed they hibernated, or perhaps they just thought it was too cold to fly.

If he managed to damage the arena so much that they couldn't hold dragons, they had no reason to keep them, the arena was the only safe place. And if winter would set in early enough, the raids would stop, and they wouldn't be able to capture new dragons.

It was an excellent plan. It was risky, because he couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't be able to capture new dragons, but the chance was pretty big. Perhaps he could even destroy the bridge that lead to the arena, it was wooden after all, so it wouldn't take a lot for it to go down. A well-aimed shot at one of the supports would probably do it, all the wood would suddenly be forced to lean on the last remaining side, and that would certainly not hold. It might not be destroyed completely, but it would certainly be out of commission.

He stepped towards the basic door, he knew how they worked, and he knew how they were build, the holders that held the log were bolted to the door, and were as sturdy as possible. If the dragon threw itself against the door they would receive the force of it, so they had to be strong. But if he managed to weaken them, then the dragons would be able to press them off the wall if they bashed against the doors again, all except the terrible terror. But that wasn't difficult, that little dragon was kept inside by a small bar, keeping a small flap inside one of the doors closed. He could lift it with one hand, and the dragon would be free, so that wasn't too difficult.

He decided that he had thought about it for long enough, and ran to the weapons rack that stood at the far side of the arena, grabbing a sword from it. Toothless looked at him as he dragged the large weapon across the ground, making a sharp scraping noise. The dragon covered his ears and tried to shut the sound out, but it didn't work. Luckily the dragons inside didn't notice.

He lifted the sword carefully, and managed to get it locked just behind one of the bolts that kept one of the holders in place, just one bolt would probably be enough to weaken it enough, the other one would only be able to take a few beats from the dragon.

He pulled at the sword, using it as a leverage to pull the bolt out of the wood. It wasn't easy, but thanks to the dry days they had the wood had shrunk a bit, and after a while the bolt shot loose. It clattered on the ground softly, and Hiccup looked at it pleased, he hoped that the others would go as smoothly as well.

A little while later he had three of the doors ready for destruction. He would have to return the swords to the armour stand afterwards, and he would definitely have to put it there before the dragons were released, since they would see him as more of a thread if he held a sword in his hands.

He pulled another bolt loose, he was getting quicker at it, this was the seventh both he had loosened, just one more and he was done with these. Then he only needed to release the Terrible Terror and the Nightmare.

That was going to be something, releasing a Monstrous Nightmare right in front of himself, one that was probably pretty pissed. He looked at the mechanism, the large log that sank into the ground was controlled by a large weight, but that was place somewhere inside the rock wall, and inaccessible for him. Perhaps he could manage to remove the top log. With one log out of the way he could probably manage to break free.

But if he just weakened the iron it could also break, shatter even, it wouldn't be so difficult to do, Toothless could heat the rings that used the logs to lock the door, and if the Dragon then tried to break free he would easily deform and probably break the metal. He ran back to the weapons rack, putting the sword back, but grabbing a small dagger with sheath for himself. He placed it in his belt, on his back. He lifted the smaller log on the Terrible Terrors cage, making him able to leave, luckily the little dragon was asleep, because otherwise he could give him some trouble.

Before he started the final part of his work he ran up the ramp quickly, looking at the village. It was still calm, but he knew how quickly it could change. It had been a few days since the last raid, but he hoped one wouldn't come tonight.

He turned back around, running down the ramp to head to the dragons. "Toothless, come here." He whispered as he motioned the black dragon to follow him. He obeyed calmly, following his young rider to the largest door of the arena. He could smell the scent of the other dragons, and he had a good idea what his young rider was up to.

He looked at Hiccup with a questioning look as they stood before the large door. "Here." Hiccup tapping his finger on one of the metal rings that kept the logs in place. "Can you heat this?"

Toothless warbles something as Hiccup stepped aside, retracting his teeth as he opened his jaw, a soft light starting to glow in the back of his mouth. Before a steady stream of plasma fire came out of his mouth, and Hiccup watched as the metal slowly got heated.

After a few seconds Toothless stopped. The iron was glowing a bit, but thanks to his experience in the smithy told him that the metal was nowhere near being as mouldable as he needed it to be. He looked at it again, he needed something else to destroy the gate, and he couldn't just leave one dragon. That would honestly be terrible. The village would be furious and would probably take all the anger out the last dragon they had, and that would probably be the Nightmare.

He looked at the locking mechanism again. And then at Toothless. "Any ideas, bud?" he asked calmly, hoping that the dragon could find some magical solution to heating the metal. Perhaps if they made some kind of fire they could heat it enough to the point where the Nightmare could burst out of it, but he didn't expect it. He looked at the weapon rack, perhaps there was something there he could use. He could grab an axe and chop the large log to splinters, but he knew that would take him a few days.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of Toothless charging a shot. He spun around rapidly, just in time to see the dragon fire a large plasma shot right at the part where the two logs rested on each other. The sound rung through the entire arena, and he could hear how all the dragons awoke instantly.

Hiccup watched in awe as the large top log was launched up in the air, the tip of the bottom log was reduced to a ruined pile of smouldering remains. He heard how the dragons started to bash against the doors, and he could see how the remains of the locks were slowly giving in, it was working.

But the blast had been extremely loud, that and the fact that he didn't want to be in the arena with the dragons that were just roughly awoken and sounded pretty angry. He quickly mounted Toothless, the Night Fury warbling worriedly as he thought that he had done something wrong.

"Good job bud." Hiccup said as he guided the dragon out of the arena, Toothless quickly began running, jumping off the edge and spreading his wings to fly off. He looked at the village, seeing how people were slowly starting to head outside and some were running towards the arena.

He knew that the dragons needed more time, and he could clearly see that if this continued the Vikings would arrive on time to lock the main door, trapping the dragons inside. He switched the stance of the tailfin, sending them into a steep climb, before turning completely and levelling out again. Hiccup looked down at the town, people were realising something was wrong and were rushing towards the arena in large numbers, but no one had made it to the bridge yet.

He decided not to waste their advantage and pushed Toothless to go into a dive, the two understood each other completely and Toothless directly realised what Hiccup wanted to do. Together they steered them into a straight dive, Toothless folding his wins once he was content that they were going straight at it. Hiccup heard the soft and faint whistle start to grow, and it send shivers down his spine. Toothless opened his mouth, a light burning lighter and more intense in it as more and more air was being added to it.

Hiccup could see how people had stopped running, at least some of them, to look at the sky. They probably heard the whistle now too, Hiccup lied down flat on Toothless, the dragon preparing itself for releasing its shot.

It was a textbook attack, if there was something like that. Toothless had fired his shot with expert precision right at the bridge. Hiccup could see the blue plasma explosion, which quickly turned yellow as the wood incinerated. Only a faint blue shockwave eradiated from it, before it dispersed in the night sky.

Both sides of the bridge were burning, and the middle part was completely reduced to splinters. Hiccup looked, making sure everyone was okay. It looked like everyone had been too far away from the blast to be harmed, and they weren't hit by any debris too. He gulped, he had just attacked his own village, well, his old village. He was truly cutting his ties with Berk. During the time he was thinking Toothless had turned them around, Hiccup absently helping the dragon. He was now heading straight for the arena. Hiccup realised what was going on as he heard the whistle build again, and he could see how they were diving at the metal roof.

A part of him didn't want to do more damage, he knew that building a bridge across such a large part was difficult, especially since Stoick usually asked Gobber for advice, and Gobber would ask him. But he wouldn't be around to think of some crane design this time. Another part of him did want to do this. He wasn't harming anyone and the arena would be out of service for a long time. They wouldn't waste precious wood on building a bridge with the winter coming, they'd need it for firewood. So the bridge would be delayed to next year. So they wouldn't be able to rebuild the arena for almost a full year. That meant they wouldn't have any use for trapping dragons for a year to come.

Hiccup watched as a second blue explosion formed in front of him, this one creating a large cloud of smoke instead of fire. As they flew over he could hear the first door giving in under the beating of the dragons. And he knew that the others would soon follow. The Terrible Terror could already be seen climbing out of the arena and flying off.

It wasn't long before he could look behind him and see the silhouettes of dragons contrasted against the fire of the bridge. Five of them, a small speck, which was probably the Terror, a larger speck, which was the Gronckle, the Nadder and the Zippleback followed close behind them. And finally the Nightmare, who looked angry, but apparently had chosen to retreat instead of a fight for vengeance.

Hiccup let himself fall back on his the saddle, thinking about what he had done. He had betrayed his village, fled from it using their biggest enemy, and had destroyed their only method of training people against the dragons. But he hadn't wounded anyone, and he had also freed the dragons. So perhaps that balanced everything out a bit. He knew that things would look up from now.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **So it's probably not the smartest thing to upload this right in the middle of exam weeks and stuff, but I've been looking at this story for a while now. The plan was to finish it fully before uploading, which would allow me to change anything in previous chapters if I wanted to. But since motivation is kinda lacking, and I could use some more feedback on it I'm just gonna put it out there. DO NOTE, that everything here could still change, I got the plot and timeline of the story planned out, but not much more. Besides that I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter. If you see anything like a mistake or something then please do tell. As mentioned before, all the feedback is welcome.**

 **Now, for those who are 'extra' interested in the story, as said, I have a complete overview of the coming chapters (46 total, this one included). Perhaps I've spread it out too much but this was to avoid mayor time skips, and it'll be fun to work on such a large project. But, if someone wants to help, maybe chat about the plot, give ideas and stuff. Then please don't be affraid to contact me! It's always amazing to find new friends, readers and writers on this site.**

 **I wanna try to update this every two weeks, but since I aim to get the chapters 6000-8000 words long that might be difficult. But maybe if the Story catches more steam I'll get that intoxicating drive to write back :D**

 **With that said, I hope everyone enjoys this and has a great day!**

 **\- R4y**


	2. Chapter 2, Get Lost

**Banished, Chapter 2, Get lost**

 **[Autumn, year one]**

* * *

Hiccup pressed himself against the saddle, he was glad it was cloudy, since it wouldn't cool down as quickly during the night. The wind struck his face hard, causing his hair to fly around aimlessly. He was glad he at least had his fur vest, since it would otherwise be really cold in so high in the sky.

His heart was racing, beating quick and fast. He could feel it in his throat, and Toothless could too, he looked behind him, checking on his rider. The animal could feel his rider's distress. He could feel the stress and tension in him.

But the dragon could also feel a calmness in his rider, a peace he hadn't felt with him before. A weight that had been lifted of his shoulders, and so also didn't weight the dragon himself down anymore. It was a peace he gratefully accepted.

They flew through the air, the wind blowing against the two. Toothless calmly switched between flying and gliding, keeping a level flight. They calmly flew through the sky. Hiccup looked behind them, seeing Berk in the distance, they were raising the torches, illuminating the village against the night sky. They probably believed that the attack on the bridge was part of a larger dragon attack, they'd be relieved to find out it wasn't.

Hiccup sighed as he looked at the town, it felt strange to see it shrink on the horizon. To see the great hall become just a small mountain in the distance, and to see Berk's tall and powerful cliffs become tiny and distant. He was leaving behind almost everything, but in doing so, hopefully saving himself.

It had been a hectic day, and the young boy's body was getting tired. When he looked above he could see the stars in the sky. The moon illuminating them as they flew. His hands grabbed tighter on the saddle, keeping himself upright on the back of the large black dragon. He yawned softly, Toothless making an inaudible noise.

"Easy bud." Hiccup said as he lay down, reached to the side of the dragon to scratch it a bit. "We're not going back there, never." He said, not sure if he was trying to convince the dragon or himself.

The dragon warbled calmly, before shutting up quickly. A soft buzzing caught his ears, slowly growing louder. A heavy fog grew into his mind, something oppressing his thoughts, his free will. His eyes turned to slits, his breathing getting irrattic. He felt trapped, trapped in his own mind, his own body. The feeling was still so familiar, it felt so safe. But he knew that it was dangerous.

He shook his head, trying to stop it. The buzz faded out for a second, before returning louder than ever. "What's wrong bud?" The dragon could hear his rider ask, softly overpowering the buzzing. It was like he was falling asleep. His sight was getting worse, his senses sharpened but dazed at the same time.

Hiccup looked at the dragon underneath him, something strange was happening. His feet were starting to kick randomly into the air. His head shaking, like it was trying to shake off water after a dive. Hiccup looked at the dragon worried, noticing how his ears rose, did it hear or sense danger?

"Toothless?" Hiccup asked softly, but quickly silenced himself and lay down on the back of his dragon as he heard the beating of more wings besides him. He looked between his waving hairs, trying to identify the creature that had joined them on their flight.

A Monstrous Nightmare, one of the deadliest and dangerous dragons that you'd find on Berk. He'd seen his father battle a fair share of them. But it wasn't uncommon for Vikings to team up to take them down, or to run away all together. He lay low on Toothless, looking at the large dragon that flew besides them.

The creature had an impressive wingspan, not as large as Toothless, but the wings were still large, and probably very powerful. He observed the dragon with wide eyes, noticing that it held a helpless sheep in its talons below him. The sheep seemed to be still alive, kicking its legs into the air, trying to run away from the grasp of the dragon, a futile attempt

Hiccup could hear and feel his heart beating faster as he saw more dragons appear behind them. To their left was a Zippleback, his breath caught in his throat as one of the heads looked at him. The Zippleback, although not as tough as some other dragons they knew, was still very dangerous, especially because of its illusive and cunning nature. The head that looked at him was apparently the gas-spitting head, since it left a trail of green gas in the air, seeping form the corner of its mouth.

More dragons joined them, all sizes and shapes. There were Nadders, Zipplebacks, Gronckles, and Hiccup even though he saw more Monstrous Nightmares. The air starting getting a different scent too, that of dragons and smoke. A mix of a musky dragon scent and the heavy air of smoke and burnt wood.

He quickly realised that the smoke wasn't a scent the dragons brought with them, his eyes slowly started to get watery, so it wasn't just a scent, it was actual smoke around them. He slowly looked around, not wanting to startle the other dragons, since they seemed fairly wild. They all carried something with them. Still struggling sheep, nets of fish or racks of drying meat. Food of all shapes and sizes.

"They're hauling in their kill." Hiccup whispered to himself, which got him thinking about his own position. Did Toothless see him as a dragon too? And was he bringing him to the feeding place of all dragons so they could eat? Or was he the food instead.

His thoughts got cut off when Toothless made a sharp dive. Hiccup instinctively responded, flicking his foot to adjust the tailfin. They dove towards the sea, shrouded in a large cloud of fog and smoke. Hiccup waited for Toothless to start pulling up, so he could switch the tailfin accordingly. He didn't know where the Night Fury was bringing him, but he would probably rather be there then in the freezing waters below them.

They levelled out, and now had the task of dodging a maze of sea stacks. Hiccup was lucky they had done that once before during a test flight, but it was still tricky, especially with the mist that surrounded them. He could hear the beating of wings around him as more dragons followed, a large stream of dragons flying between the sea stacks.

Hiccup was too busy with navigating to notice the change of scenery, but the large steam entered a cave. The smoke smell got more intense, but his eyes didn't sting, the fog also cleared more as they delved deeper into it. Toothless calmly guided them through, allowing Hiccup to focus on the surroundings again, the cave was dimly lit, and very warm. It had already been getting cold quickly outside, but now he felt like he was standing in a house, right next to the fire pit.

The heat was surprising, but Hiccup stopped thinking about it as he saw a light at the end of their tunnel, something that surprised him greatly. He pressed himself harder against Toothless, making sure that his posture was as small as possible. They exited the tunnel, and entered a large open area, the heat was almost unbearable in there, and Hiccup felt like he was being roasted alive. He looked down, his eyes almost blinded by the sharp glow from the bottom of the pit. They were in a volcano, they were inside the dragons' nest. Hiccup looked around in awe as he saw hundreds and hundreds of dragons. All flying over the foggy pit, dropping their catch into it.

"Well, that's where our food goes." Hiccup silently muttered from the back of Toothless. The Night Fury wasn't paying attention to him, he was looking for a good spot to land for a bit, since he didn't want to fly over the pit for too long. They landed on a small outcropping, and Hiccup welcomed the slightly less unbearable heat that hung there.

He watched as more and more dragons came out the different openings, all dropping nets of fish and whole sheep into the pit. There was enough food to feed Berk for the entire winter, and perhaps even a few more winters to come. Hiccup looked in awe, food hadn't been incredibly scarce. He had only experienced a few winters where food had been a problem. But as the sun of the chief he usually had little worries about his appetite.

Toothless looked over the edge of the pit with worry. He knew what lived down in the depths of the volcano, and he knew the evil of its ways. He pressed his ears flat against his back, making sure he would be able to scoot back if he saw the evil dragon coming up.

Hiccup looked as even more dragons dropped their food into the volcano, he wondered if there was perhaps a platform down there to store the food, or some kind of other thing they were dropping it on. It wouldn't make sense for them to all be dropping it into the volcano for the fun of it.

He watched as the stream slowly died down, most dragons having dropped their catch and searching for a place to settle in the warm caverns. Hiccup noticed that his hair was getting damp from the sweat, he didn't want to stay in the volcano much longer, but curiosity was forcing him too. At the end of the stream came a lonesome Gronckle, who calmly hovered towards the centre of the open cavern. Hiccup looked as the Gronckle regurgitated a fish, the slippery creature calmly sliding off the dragon's tongue and falling down into the pit. The Gronckle then proceeded to scratch himself, content with its contribution to the raid.

Hiccup looked at it, if every dragon took one fish they wouldn't have so much problems, they could just give it to them and it be fine. They would be no fighting, no battling, and no killing. Perhaps they couldn't live in harmony together, but at least in peace alone.

But those hopes were shattered when a deep and long roar came from the bottom of the pit. The sound strong enough to cause the walls of the cave to vibrate. Hiccup pressed his back further against Toothless, waiting for something to happen anxiously. He looked at the Gronckle, which had frozen in mid-air. The large boulder-class dragon seemed to be waiting for something too, but nothing happened. The dragon seemed relieved, and was about to fly off again.

But then a large, no, gigantic dragon emerges from the glowing pool down below. The large green dragon lunged upwards. Hiccup recoiled in fear, this dragon had the size of Berk's great hall. It was almost a mountain itself. The large dragon open its large mouth, and Hiccup could clearly see how the large mouth snapped shut around the Gronckle. The teeth snapped together, and Hiccup was certain that no one would ever see that Gronckle again.

The large dragon fell back down calmly, but stopped with its head above the lit-up clouds that hung in the bottom of the nest. With its keen eyes, it spotted the rider and his dragon. Mistaking Hiccup for food that hadn't been given to him. Hiccup found himself looking straight into the large eye of the dragon. He felt a lump in his throat, and a certain desire to be anywhere else.

"Toothless," He began softly, hoping that the large monster in the middle of the nest wouldn't be alarmed by soft chatter. "We got to get out of here." The Night Fury agreed with him, and he quickly lunged from its location on the rock as the large dragon attacked.

The beast leaped forward again, using its large claws to dig into the rock besides him. It alerted the entire nest, and all the dragon that had been roosting or resting quickly took to the skies, flying off towards the quickest possible way out. Causing them all to spiral as they left through the top of the volcano.

Hiccup suddenly found himself engulfed by dragons, but he was too busy to notice. His mind was set on getting out of there. Beneath them the large beast attacked again, and he could hear the large jaws of the monster snapping shut. Luckily, it wasn't around them. Instead, the large monster had grabbed a poor Zippleback, and had accepted this snack as an acceptable trade for the disobedient dragon.

Toothless quickly flew over the lip of the volcano, heading down the mountain to look for a safe place to land, as did many dragons. Most of the flock was still exhausted after their raid, and they probably wouldn't reach any other islands without resting. Toothless slowed down as they neared the fog that surrounded the island again.

Hiccup looked around him as they slowed them descend. His heart was racing from the encounter with the large dragon. Behind him he could recognise the rocky sides of the volcano. It was sharp, jagged rock, which looked very uninviting. The entire island was probably like that, he assumed. Hard, ragged and jagged, and overall uninviting.

Toothless landed, and Hiccup was surprised to not hear the sound of shifting rocks underneath Toothless' paws. He slid off the back of the dragon, his feet landing in soft grass. He was confused. He hadn't expected fresh, lush green grass on this island. Let alone directly next to the foot of the volcano.

The grassy field was however still covered in fog and smoke from the volcano. And Hiccup wasn't planning on staying so close to the volcano. He started to think. The only nearby island that he knew of was Berk, and he didn't fancy his chances returning. He couldn't know what Astrid had done after he left. Perhaps she sounded alarm or spotted him leaving. He simply couldn't risk it.

He could fly off towards the sea, perhaps finding a calmer, peaceful island without any giant hall-sized dragons living on it. But there was also the chance that wherever he went he'd find nothing, and Toothless was probably already a bit exhausted from the little escape from the nest.

Hiccup sighed. He really didn't feel like staying on the island, but he feared he had no safer options. He turned to Toothless, petting the Night Fury on its snout. "Good job there bud." Hiccup said as he patted the dragon. "You got us out safely."

The Night Fury warbled some inaudible noises, it's large gummy mouth forming a soft smile afterwards. Hiccup smiled back. Wherever he went, he wouldn't be alone. "What do you say we stay here for the night?" He asked the dragon. The dragon looked at the boy for a second, before looking off around him. The fog was thick, thick enough that Hiccup could only see a few steps in front of him. It would be dangerous to run around on the island, since a tree, rock wall or, even more dangerous, a cliff, could hide behind the fog.

He felt a warm breath in his back. Toothless was looking at the young boy, wondering if they were going to fly more or if they were going to rest here, on the perhaps forgiving island. Hiccup didn't like the idea of staying so close to the giant dragon. But it staying here was probably smarter than trying their luck on another island.

* * *

The village was in a state of panic by the time Stoick stepped outside. He had heard the faint yelling of watchmen and other townsfolk. He looked off into the dark night, seeing the clouds of smoke rise from the arena, something was wrong.

He hurried down the path towards the square, yelling to anyone he found outside to follow. If the dragons were loose they'd need a couple of good men to wrestle them down again. A handful of strong warriors followed him, but when they reached the bridge they all stopped dead in their track.

That sound.

That ear-piercing, all too familiar sound, coming right towards them. People were scanning the skies in vain, and it didn't take long for the sound to grow louder and the first Viking to break under the pressure.

"Night Fury!" Hoark yelled. "Get down!"

The group did just that, shielding themselves with their hands or their shields. But the beasts weren't aiming for them. In fact, it was aiming for the large wooden bridge ahead of them. Separating the island from the arena. Before they realised what was happening they saw a bright white flash, before the wooden bridge was engulfed with flames. Pieces of wood and splinters flying over the heads of the ducking Vikings.

When the smoke cleared and Stoick inspected the bridge he was far from pleased. The damage was worse than he expected. Both ends were no longer connected, a hole between the two smouldering ends. It would take a while to repair this, and with winter coming they couldn't spare the wood.

The crackle of embers was all that he heard beside the villagers softly muttering behind him. No beating wings, no rushing winds, nothing. The beasts had left.

"Gods, I've never seen them act so coordinated before." A Viking muttered behind him.

"At least it didn't go after the catapults." Another said.

"Alright!" Stoick said loudly as he turned around. "The beasts have left." He added as he saw a small blond figure running towards them from the edge of the woods. "Someone clean this mess up." He added finally as the crowd started to disperse.

"Ay lass, you're late to the party." Stoick said calmly. He liked Astrid, the fierce little girl. If only she could rub off on Hiccup a bit more. Perhaps he'd take some habits over from her. But as Astrid got closer he noticed how battered she looked.

Her eyes were red, and she was covered with scratched. She was out of breath, and had trouble speaking calmly. "Chief!" She called. "Chief, it's h-hiccup."

The chief sighed inwardly. Not willing to show his irritation just yet. "What did the lad do this time?" He asked calmly.

"No, it's not" Astrid began, unsure of how to say what she saw to the chief of their tribe. She was choking on her words. "A-a dragon, in- in the forest." It was all crashing down, the dragon that took Hiccup, the nerves of having to tell the chief the fate of his son.

"Calm down Astrid." Stoick said calmly. "What happened?"

"A d-dragon." Astrid said, still out of breath. "It, it took him."

"It took what?" Stoick tried to correct her. A feeling of dread growing in the back of his mind.

"No, no it took him." Astrid repeated. "It took Hiccup!"

* * *

Gobber was also late to the fight, having first visited the smithy to make sure everything was in order. Afterwards he headed down towards the bridge to see what all the fuss was about, and he arrived just in time to see Astrid talking to the chief.

Gobber was surprised. The girl looked to be in distraught. Why, he couldn't begin to fathom. Astrid was always such a confident, aspiring young lass. But now she looked like she'd seen a ghost riding a dragon.

But that wasn't what surprised the old smith the most. As he approached he could see Stoick slowly standing up. The axe he held in his hand falling to the ground, the sharp blade of it only missing his foot by a little bit.

"Stoick?" Gobber asked confused. Not sure what the Astrid had told the chief to make him react in such a way. The chief turned to him, his eyes wide and his mouth half ajar.

"Hiccup." He softly said.

Before Gobber could respond Stoick ran off. He grabbed the torch out of the hands of a watchmen and ran towards the woods. Gobber looked at Astrid, and both quickly followed the chief.

Stoick passed Spitelout on the way. "Get a search party ready!" He barked to his brother, before running off into the forest. The woods were dark during the night, even dangerous. So naturally, all Vikings who did travel in them at night were careful, moving slowly and silently, except for Stoick, Astrid and Gobber

"Chief, wait!" Astrid yelled as she followed the large and bulky chief through the woods. Any other day she would have been surprised at the speed the chief was putting up with, but her own mind was racing too much. Alongside her Gobber was trying to keep up with them, a mace-like prosthetic attacked to his missing limb. Astrid watched as the chief ran through the dark forest. No regards for his own safety, they followed the light of his torch.

After a while he stopped. Catching his breath and looking around him, pacing aimlessly. "Hiccup!" He yelled, waiting for a response. "Hiccup?" He yelled again, almost like a question.

"Stoick?" Gobber asked as he walked up to him, also out of breath. "What's happening, what are we doing here?"

"Which way?" Stoick asked, the question aimed at Astrid. The woods were treacherous, and he had tripped a couple of times. Astrid walked up, nervously. She was still shocked from the moment she had told the chief what happened.

Gobber joined them too. "Okay, hold up, explain." He said sternly. Astrid turned towards the smith, trying to finish what she was trying to explain, but Stoick was having none of it.

"What way?!" He demanded. His patience was running thin. He'd explain everything to Gobber in time, right now only one thing was on his mind. His son.

Astrid was shocked by the sudden change in the chief's voice, it had been rather stern already. But this was a whole new level. She looked around, trying her best to remember the way that that strange cove was. "That way!" She said, but before she was finished the chief was already running again.

Gobber and Astrid quickly followed him, now that the distance was shorter they had an easier time keeping up with Stoick. Stoick's torch now provided enough light for all of them.

"Okay, lass" Gobber began with ragged breath as they followed the chief. "Explain, what's happening please."

"It took him." Astrid said between ragged breaths. "A dragon did."

"Took what?" Gobber asked, not quite grasping what she meant.

"Hiccup." She said. "It took Hiccup." She looked at the Smith for a split second, long enough to see his expression change from dire to much more grave. She was surprised when she noticed that he was slowly overtaking her, closing the gap between him and the chief.

Stoick was still calling out the name of his son, hoping to get any response out of the dark forest. But to no avail. Gobber caught up with him and the chief shot the smith an approving smile.

"Where could he be Gobber?" Stoick asked the chief, almost pleading. "Why would he be in the woods?"

Gobber thought about both the questions, hoping that one could lead to answering the other. He slowly stopped, looking around him. "Raven point." He muttered.

"Raven point?" Astrid asked exhausted. She hadn't really taken the local landmarks into account when she ran back, had she been near Raven Point?

"He's searching for that Night Fury!" Stoick filled in the second part. "Oh Hiccup." He muttered as he ran, slower this time, since now he had to find his way through the woods to get there.

They walked for what seemed like hours to Stoick, seeing tree after tree, bush after bush. Stoick wasn't even sure they were heading in the right direction. His worries were growing with the minute now, and he was slowly losing hope that they'd find any trace of him tonight.

That was until they stumbled upon a large crater in the dirt. Along with broken trees and destroyed foliage. Stoick shone some light on the strange surroundings with his torch.

"What do you think happened here?" He asked, surprised by the strange surroundings.

"Looks like a dragon went down here." Gobber said. "You don't think he actually hit that Night Fury, do you?"

The light of Stoick's torch reflected on wet spots in the dirt. The crater wasn't huge, not the size for something like a Monstrous Nightmare, but it was still larger than a Gronkle. Stoick scanned the crater, looking for any clue, any indicator of what had happened here. But Gobber was the one to discover it.

"Look." He said as he picked up a stone ball that was tied to a rope. "Looks like part of a bola."

Stoick took the destroyed weapon from Gobber, inspecting it himself. It looked like a finely crafted part of a bola, the rope attacked to the rock was far longer than any regular bola though. The stone was heavier too, far too heavy for Hiccup to efficiently throw.

"Look!" Astrid yelled, breaking his thoughts. He turned around to find the young girl kneeling next to what was probably the rest of the weapon. Torn and cut up. They could now picture the full image of the weapon.

"'T was a large bola." Gobber commented. "The ropes leading from the centre ring to the rocks must are at least my length." He picked up one of the rope end, which was frayed and slightly weathered. He passed it to Stoick. "Looks like the dragon was able to cut itself loose."

"He did it." Stoick muttered. "It really wasn't like the other times."

Gobber looked at Stoick with a worried expression. "Where do we go from here?" He asked. The chief scanning the woods again, but not seeing much because of the darkness.

"Curse the gods." Stoick yelled, and he stuck the torch in the loose dirt. "We'll fan out." He said. "There have to be more clues, that dragon must have left a trail." He said. "He must have." He added, barely audible.

So they did, fanning out around the crash site of the yet to be identified dragon. They searched the woods around it, hoping to find any clue as the where the beast ran off to.

"Well, would you look at this." Stoick muttered as he picked a black, leather like fabric from a tree. It was torn and mauled, and it looked like a rodent had eaten from it. He stretched it out, and his thoughts were confirmed. "I got a part of the beast's tail!" He yelled back.

"Right, so the beast couldn't have flown off." Gobber commented from the other side of the crash site. "I think I found a track."

Stoick called Astrid, and the girl came walking from the forest, some of the rope of the bolas swung around her shoulder. Perhaps they'd need it. Stoick grabbed his torch again, and they walked towards the one-legged blacksmith.

"Look at this." The smith said while he pointed at some scratch marks on a tree. "It went this way."

They followed the track through the dark woods, until Astrid recognized the path Hiccup had ran towards the cove. "It's this way!" She yelled, urging Stoick to follow. "I remember, he went this way."

Stoick followed Astrid closely, allowing his torch to illuminate the path ahead of her. After a short walk through shrubbery, following a clear man-made path, they arrived at a cove.

Astrid's boots felt heavy again, and she heard the same scream again, softly in the back of her mind. It was just as impactful and heavy as it had been. The beating of wings. Everything. It all came rushing back.

"I think there's a way down there." Gobber said as he scanned the outlines of the cove, finding a small crevasse on one side of it. "We should be able to go into it from there."

Stoick took charge, followed by Astrid. At the back was Gobber, the two adults were more confident in their skills in battle then those of Astrid. And it was only natural for them to shield the child from any possible danger.

Stoick was the first to enter the cove, he kicked against the wooden shield lodged in between the rocks. It shattered, the parts of wood now lying scattered across the sand. He ran through the sand, torch in one hand, and his sword in the other. His feet sank in the loose grains as he ran, and Gobber and Astrid followed behind him.

Gobber looked around carefully, and Astrid held onto her axe with white knuckled hands. They covered their chief carefully, and each other, making sure that a dragon wouldn't get the drop on them.

"Hiccup!" Stoick called. "It's safe son." He added. Hoping that the boy would be hiding somewhere. Gobber and Astrid spread out as the beach widened. But without them noticing Stoick suddenly froze in his tracks.

Astrid searched near the water, catching a glimmer of metal underneath the mirror-like surface of the pond. She stepped into the water. Reaching for the glistering object that lay on the sandy bed. It was a pretty simple and plain knife, the leather on the hilt was slowly coming loose though.

Her attention was diverted when he heard a soft rustle of sand, and she looked behind her, just in time to see the chief standing near something that lay in the sand. His sword dropped, standing upright in the sand.

She wanted to inform Stoick of her finding, but before she could say something the chief sank to his knees. The torch in his hand slowly lowering. Gobber had noticed it too, and the one-legged man was walking towards the chief as fast as his peg leg would allow him through the sand.

Stoick was frozen, his body tense and his mind and heart racing. In front of the three Vikings – mixed with the sand – lay a few red spots, and one larger one, as well as pieced of burnt flesh, scattered across scorch marks.

Gobber looked at the chief, the he could see the chiefs mouth moving between the large beard and moustache, but no words came out. He placed his right hand on the shoulder of his friend, and took his own helmet off. He held it to its side, but it soon also slipped from his fingers, lading in the sand.

"Hiccup." Was all the old chief muttered. The only thing that he could think of, the only thing he had feared for.

"We don't know Stoick." Gobber said, his voice hoarse. The gravity of their discovery started to dawn on the smith. "It- it's not a lot of, you know, blood." Gobber said with pauses, trying to convince himself that what they found was not the remnants of his apprentice.

Astrid felt frozen, paralyzed even. Stoick's torch sank lower and lower, until the head of the fire rested in the sand, which slowly extinguished it. Darkness surrounded the three, and it took a while before one of them spoke.

"Gobber." Stoick said, his voice hoarse and coarse. "Go back to Berk." He said. "Get Spitelout to assemble a search party."

"Alright Stoick." Gobber said as he patted his back. "We'll make sure we find him."

Astrid turned around to follow Gobber, but the smith kneeled to face her. "Lass, stay with him." He said. "He won't say it, but he needs it right now."

"Oh, okay." Astrid said, she hated herself for sounding so weak and insecure right now. But she was exhausted, mentally and physically. She walked back towards the chief. Sitting down in the sand next to the large and respected Viking, sharing each other's comfort in silence.

Astrid let her hand rest in the sand, feeling the cold grains touch her palm. That was until her fingers touched something else. Still cold, but hard and smooth. She looked, and found that besides her lay a clean black scale, the moonlight reflecting of it. It had been buried partially in the sand. She grabbed the scale, inspecting it closely.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **IM BACK! WABALABA DUB DUB!**

 **Alright, so it's been a while. I can't really deny that. this chapter has been kind of difficult for me. Mainy because I had some difficulties with coming back into writing after quite a break, sorry if the quility seems a bit less then the previous chapter, I'll try to work on it. But thanks to the occasional review trickling in and the odd PM I can't let this sit here unfinished and let it rot. So, here we go again!**

 **My aim is going to be to upload a chapter every two weeks. I wanna make them between 6000 and 8000 words, so I gotta dedicate some time to them. I also want to have them proofread, but for now I'll just throw this online and edit it when I have some feedback on it or if spelling errors have been found.**

 **If someone want to help with proofreading then please, I'm in need of a beta reader and it would be amazing.**

 **For now, take care!**

 **\- R4y**


	3. Chapter 3, The Wild

**Banished, Chapter 3, The Wild**

 **[Autumn, year one]**

* * *

The sun rose calmly, it's blinding body slowly climbing over the horizon. The rays of light shining over the vast Nordic seas. It shone through the thick mists that surrounded the dragon island. And gently woke a sleeping Nightfury.

The beast opened one of its eyes, a large green orb scanning around him with its dilated pupil. A terrible terror was scurrying around the base of a nearby tree, probably looking for its morning meal. The small dragon was clawing off some lichen from the tree, munching on the moss like plant before swallowing it. The Night Fury let out a huff, it was not planning on eating moss any time soon.

Something stirred against the dragon, and it raised its head. Toothless peeked down at the young boy that it had wrapped in its wings. Hiccup tried to stretch, but found the confines of his dragons embrace to be a bit too cramped for him to move completely freely. He gave the dragon a gentle pat on his stomach, and the large beast unfolded his wings, allowing the boy to leave the confinement of the beast's embrace.

He stretched fully, sleeping in the dragon's wings wasn't unpleasant, albeit a bit cramped. He usually didn't wish to stir in his sleep a lot, since he didn't want to interrupt the rest of his reptilian friend. The dragon needed his sleep as much as he did after all.

Hiccup looked around. The field in which they slept was nice and lush, tall grass brushed against his legs as it waved with the breeze. The soft winds calmly rolling over the island. The thick mist still hung over the island, masking everything with a white hazy glow in the morning light. Toothless rolled over onto his feet, stretching his own legs and unfolding his wings fully to then neatly fold them at his sides. He shook his body, the saddle falling into a comfortable position as the straps adjusted themselves on his body.

"Here bud." Hiccup said as he took a step towards the dragon, adjusting a strap around his left front leg. "That's better." He said as the dragon shook his leg, testing the new way the strap lay, he warbled happily. Toothless was excited for their new life on their own, and nuzzled Hiccup affectionately.

"What do you say," Hiccup began as he rubbed his hands together. "Do you feel like getting some breakfast?" He asked Toothless, who in response jumped up and down happily. Nudging Hiccup, signalling him to lead the way.

They calmly walked, Hiccup had no idea what the island looked like, but even if he did he'd have no idea where they were. The mist prevented him from taking a proper look at the island from the air. So they were forced to do their exploration on foot.

They walked through the trees and grass, the island must be incredibly fertile, since the grass grew tall and the trees seemed to grow even higher than on Berk. The trees were covered with lichen, so in any case he'd have something to eat. Although he would be content with something a bit more, well, edible.

He looked around them while they walked, the amount of different kinds of plants on the island was surprisingly large. He wondered how it was possible for such a deserted island to hold as abundant of a variety as it did. That was until he saw something incredibly peculiar. The tall grass that grew on most of the areas had been mixed with a different kind of plant, which had a rich yellow colour instead of the gentle green of the forest.

Hiccup inspected the plant, finding it to be regular, cultivated oats. They weren't as rich and full as the oats they grew on Berk. Probably because of the lack of human attention given to the crop, but the fertile ground compensated for some of that.

"What are oats doing here?" Hiccup wondered aloud. Were there people living on the island? He didn't think so, the oats also seemed rather untended, sharing their ground with weeds and other plants. Properly tended crops would grow in neatly cultivated ground, so that they could reign over the nutrients that lay in the soil, instead of having to share it with weeds and grass.

He looked around the patch of grains, and quickly found the origin of the crops. A roughly woven linen sack lay caught in an exposed root of a tree. The bottom of the sack was torn by what seemed to be dragon claws. Hiccup guessed it was looted during one of the raids, and eventually tore open. Some of the grains must have ended up in the ground, eventually sprouting.

He picked the bag up. He must be able to use this for something, since he had left his old woven basket in the cove. Perhaps he could make a couple of small saddlebags out of it, although proper leather would be preferable.

He placed it down on the ground, folded open. The bag was so torn that it was closer to just a piece of canvas. He turned to the oats, picking one of the plants. He grabbed it at the bottom of the stalk, where he snapped the plant and placed it on the canvas. He continued to so with a few more. Toothless looking at him curiously.

"Come boy, this is food." Hiccup said as he picked another strand and tossed it onto the canvas. "For me at least." He added as he turned back for more. He wasn't sure if the dragon would like bread, or perhaps just the stalks. They fed the yaks with those, didn't they?

Toothless waddled over to the patch with oats, retracting his teeth as he closed his mouth around a dozen the wild plants. With an effortless pull, he tore them from the ground, roots and all. He walked over towards the destroyed linen sack, dropping the now exposed and plucked plants on them. Hiccup looked surprised when the dragon walked back for a second batch. Sure, a Viking with a proper scythe was still quicker, but without any tools at hand Toothless was making short work of the small path.

After just three more bites the dragon had gathered all the oats that had matured, as well as a few strains of grass and other weeds that grew in-between the crops. He calmly sorted the stalks, making sure they all were the same way and wrapped them in the linen.

"Alright." He said as he plucked some long strands of the grass and tied them around the linen to close it. "I could make some bread with this." He muttered to himself as he inspected the rolled-up package. Toothless nudged him in his back, urging him to continue in their quest looking for food.

"Do you hear anything?" Hiccup asked the dragon as he placed he carried the oats. "Maybe a stream, or the coast." He really couldn't see far, and all he heard was the wind through the forest, and occasionally the beating of wings in the distance or a dragon roaring. It was strange to be surrounded by so many wild dragons, especially since this was their turf, and he couldn't spot them. But they seemed to not mind the Night Fury and his companion.

Toothless' ears twitched, turning towards his right. The dragon warbled softly, motioning his rider to follow. The beast waited for a few seconds to allow his rider to catch up before continuing towards the sound he had heard.

"Water?" Hiccup asked as he walked alongside the dragon, they were entering more densely populated forest now. The grass made way for more trees, and the ground turned from green fields into muddy dirt. Hiccup stepped on a dry branch, which snapped under his weight.

The thick foliage above them had one good very clear good point though, it seemed to keep out the fog that lingered around the island, allowing him to see just a bit further. Although this might prevent any wild animal from hiding in the fog, the forest gave any predators plenty of other places to hide. He stepped closer to Toothless, resting one hand on the saddle in case he wanted to quickly jump on.

After a moment, Hiccup was also able to hear the sound. Splashing, probably some kind of waterfall or pond and stream. Hiccup didn't know if they were up high or low. But because he couldn't hear the sound of clashing waves he guessed it would be fresh water.

A little further through the forest it started to clear up again. The muddy ground being swapped for lush green grass. The mist was also back, and in force. As visibility decreased they continued walking towards the sound of the water.

A small creek slowly came into view. It came gently crashing down from between the rocks of the mountain to their right. Hiccup guessed it was from a natural basin of rainwater somewhere up high. The stream wasn't much, eight feet wide on average, and about two feet in depth on the deepest parts. But the water was spring clear, and looked incredibly refreshing. Hiccup calmly kneeled down next to it. He dipped his finger in the water, it was ice cold. He pulled his finger out, licking it to taste the water. It had no specific taste, not salt or bitter. Seemed like regular spring water.

He gladly opened the top of his flask, pushing it underneath the surface of the water. The bubbles of air escaped as the flask filled with the water. Beside him, Toothless was also happily enjoying the refreshing stream. He gladly drank the cold water, feeling refreshed. With his large green eyes the dragon scanned the stream for fish, but couldn't find any.

"What do you say." Hiccup began as he stood up, capping of his flash again. "Shall we head back towards the coast and get you some breakfast?" He asked the dragon, which warbled happily in reply. Hiccup kept walking with Toothless, following the small creek downstream. He never expected the island to be this beautiful. And so full of life. It wouldn't surprise him if there was even some livestock on the island – like chickens or yaks – that had managed to escape the dragons' clutches at the last moment.

Toothless enjoyed their new way of live, even if it was just the first day. He happily jumped from one side of the stream to the other. He loved it. He was finally out of the boring cove, and for good probably, seeing how badly his rider wanted to leave when he got to him.

The dragon's ears perched upwards again, hearing gentle waves clashing against a rock cliff. He made some inaudible noise at Hiccup, motioning the human to climb on his back. Hiccup didn't understand the large reptile at first. But Toothless fixed this by running around the boy, pressing his snout between his legs from behind and lifting the boy over his head in one quick motion. Hiccup suddenly found himself on the back of the dragon again, safely in the saddle.

He let out a soft chuckle as he strapped himself in, hooking the safety ropes he had to the saddle. Toothless increased his speed now that he didn't have to keep up with the boy. The excited dragon finally leaped to the ear when he trusted the sounds he heard enough. As expected, the ground disappeared from underneath them after what would have been only a few more steps. The edge of the cliff had been hidden in the thick fog. And Hiccup realised that the fog itself wasn't so dense on the island itself. It was mainly surrounding the island, forming a barrier or shield against invaders. Hiding the dangerous sea stacks that had cost so many ships.

Toothless and Hiccup were only just in the air as they heard the loud roar of the giant dragon. He looked behind them, but found only mist. The large dragon was probably still inside the volcano, and something had just happened to make it angry. "Let's get as far away from here as we can." Hiccup said to Toothless as they flew towards the edge of the mist bank. "We'll grab some food on the way." He said. Toothless shot a quick glance behind them. The dragon agreed with the boy, he'd rather leave the island with the evil dragon as far behind them as possible.

Toothless was beating his wings powerfully, soaring through the sky ever so graceful. He stopped when the speed was adequate, the young rider was still holding his freshly plucked oats on his back after all. They passed out of the mist bank, allowing the dragon to navigate using its view again. Less at risk for obstacles, the two relaxed. Hiccup allowed himself to release a sigh of relieve. He had felt so relaxed on the island at first, so calm. But the roar of the giant monster dragon had startled him again, which was acceptable. He felt like that beast could even cause some of the most fearless Viking to falter.

They continued their flight, Toothless was scanning the surface of the water impatiently as they bled speed, adjusting to a more comfortable tempo of their flight. The dragon was hungrily scanning the surface of the water. The sea was moderate, a gentle breeze created small waves. Some of them sprouted whitecaps. The foam gently resting on the crests of the waves.

But the dragon wasn't interested in the whitecaps or the waves, not at all. Instead, it was peering past them, trying to identify schools of fish underneath the surface of the water. The colour of the water darkened, which could indicate the presence of a large school of fish. The Night Fury made a crooning sound, trying to catch the attention of Hiccup.

The young rider looked down when he heard his dragon. "What's the matter bud?" He asked as he reached down to pet the side of the dragon's head. The Night Fury pointed its snout towards the surface of the water, trying to get his rider to see the school of fish. Hiccup followed the dragon's gaze, his own eyes landing on the same school of fish as Toothless' had. "Ah, breakfast." Hiccup said as he switched his leg into a different position. The tailfin shifting accordingly.

They slowly circled the school of fish. Toothless eyed them carefully, trying to find a good place for him to strike. A sound alerted Hiccup that the dragon was ready, and the rider switched the tailfin again, allowing them to climb into the air.

They only needed a small bit of extra altitude for Toothless to be high enough. The dragon caused himself to stall out, rolling over his back to turn down towards the surface. Hiccup switched the stances of the tailfin accordingly. The two flew in unison.

They dove towards the water, a soft whistling noise starting to form, but not reaching nearly as loud as an average attack. Instead, Toothless only created a small purple fireball. It wasn't nearly enough to destroy a catapult tower or a Viking house, but it was enough to explode on the surface of the water, the resulting shockwave stunning the fish that swam close enough to it.

Toothless released the fireball effortless, and the purple ball struck the surface of the water. The explosion wasn't by far as large or spectacular as the average, but it still allowed the water to be flung a few feet into the air. Toothless pulled out of the dive, carefully trying to avoid flying through the large spray of water. Something Hiccup appreciated greatly.

They passed over the area of impact again, noticing that a few fish were already starting to float on the surface. They stopped to hover, Toothless beating his wings with all his might to allow them to maintain their altitude. The dragon waited for a second, until he felt his rider switch the stance of the tailfin again.

They approached the fish with a shallow dive. Toothless managing to keep his body just above the waves. He glided close to the water, opening his mouth and allowing his lower jaw to dip into the water, scooping the fresh fish into his mouth. He pulled up again, carefully swallowing the mouthful of fish. After a quick turn they headed back in, doing another pass across the area that was covered with the most fish. It didn't take long, and after they'd pulled up and Toothless had swallowed another batch of fresh fish they continued their journey to the next island.

Toothless beats his wings powerfully, after a moment they had reached a comfortable speed again. This allowed the dragon to occasionally beat his wings to keep the speed up, but glide for the rest of it. Hiccup sat comfortably on the back of his dragon, scanning around them. The vast expanse of sea brought a calmness with it, but also a hint of anxiety.

He guessed it was natural, and he wouldn't mind it if their new life was just that. Calmness with the tiniest hint of anxiety. He had abandoned his tribe in favour of their enemy after all. And he guessed he wouldn't really be embraced lovingly in other settlements with his dragon.

He shifted in the saddle, but felt something push against his leg as he did. He grabbed the small bulge in his pocket, pulling out the small decorative skull. He had forgot about her in the heat of the escape and attack. Questions started to surface in the back of his mind.

Had she seen him leave on Toothless? Or had she arrived at the cove too late to catch wind of his final escape?

And if she had seen them, would she have told the village? Would they believe her. He guessed they would. It had been too sudden and too much of a surprise that Hiccup had suddenly become the best student in the ring. It was too unpredictable.

And Astrid was competitive, sharing that information could grant her the first place. Which would give her the honour to kill the dragon.

The dragon that he had set free yesterday, right. Perhaps because of that little stunt she wouldn't have a reason to tell the village. Although she'd also know he did it, the pieces would fit together perfectly.

And then Berk would not only know that he befriended a dragon and chose them above his own village, but also that he attacked them, destroying the bridge, the pens and releasing the dragons.

He wondered how his father would feel about the news. The thought of his reaction made him glad he left. He didn't know if it'd be anger or disappointment – probably a mix of both – but he was certain he wouldn't be able to handle it.

He closed his hand around the skull, putting it back into his pocket. Perhaps he could find a use for it, maybe later. For now, it just brought up too many questions and fears in him.

Sadly enough the thoughts weren't as easy to put away. His mind kept wandering to the people in the village, and how they would react. What would Gobber say? Would his own mentor cast him aside, or would he perhaps take his side in the matter? Would he be reasonable? Hiccup didn't think so. The old smith leaded the training program against the dragons, and had lost not only his foot, but also a hand to the beasts. He guessed that the old Viking had no room for empathy for the beasts.

But who would? Everyone in Berk had lost someone to in the raids. Burning houses, explosions, collapsing towers, it was all part of the hazard that came with the attacks. Not to mention the possibility of starvation during the winter months, when the food that the dragons took was most needed.

But every settlement had these problems. Every settlement had their scars, and a lot of those would be linked to the evildoings of dragons. He guessed he was different than most Vikings, not for better or worse, just different. He had managed to live together with the beasts. Well, at least not fight with them. But at what cost? Forsaking his tribe, his title, and his heritage? To trade it all in for a life as a hermit in the wild?

He sighed, and his dragon noticed that his riders mind was clouded. He guessed it wasn't that strange. The Night Fury himself also felt slightly conflicted by the choice to leave the nest he had grown fond of. But he knew it was for the best. He too had been blinded by the conflict, he too had felt as if the humans were their enemies just because they had been when he was born. Until he met his own.

He felt content. He could do without the nest, without a flock. As long as he was with his rider. They were their own nest, their own flock, and in his case, their own family. He beat his wings again, gaining a bit more speed and altitude before he switched back to calmly gliding.

They flew in silence, calmly gliding across the winds as they further away from their old homes, further away from Berk and the nest. Further away from their old lives. Hiccup stretched and yawned on the back of Toothless. If he only had the right materials he could do quite a bit of work on the back of the dragon during these flights. If he had some fine rope he could make a satchel out of the piece of woven fabric they found, in there he could store the oats themselves, instead of the entire stalks.

If he could make the sack fine enough he'd even have a place to store excess flour that he made. He'd only have to crush the oats fine enough between a few rocks. He could do that. A bit of water from his flask and he'd be able to create his own bread.

He made a mental note for the things he needed. A knife would definitely come in handy, as would some kind of sewing materials. Some rope would be good, since that had almost limitless options. He could use it to tie stuff to Toothless' saddle, catch animals, mend his clothes, and quite a lot more.

His thoughts were disturbed when he spotted something on the horizon, a few sea stacks stood out proudly among the vast body of water. He leaned forward, patting his dragon on the side of its head. "Hey bud, sea those sea stacks?" He said calmly, knowing it was a rhetorical question. The dragon warbled in confirmation. "What do you say we check them out?"

Toothless beats his wings powerfully for a moment, getting a tad more speed as he leisurely continues to glide towards the sea stacks. The small rocky formation slowly growing on the horizon.

A map, that would be perfect. He could mark the places where he had found water, different plants and food. As well as marking safe and unsafe areas. He cursed softly, why hadn't he thought of that? Sure, if he'd taken a map from somewhere it was bound to go missing. But he could have copied a part of it he would at least have a head start on making his own.

He reached in his vest, grabbing his notebook from it. He opened the simple book. The page that opened carried his thoughts on where Toothless had first landed when he had shot him down. The drawings of the woodlands around raven point were ruined when he had crossed through them though. He flipped a few pages, passing his drawings of Toothless and his notes on dragons. All the little bits and pieces that he had learned about dragons.

He flipped path the pages, finally arriving at empty ones. He placed a small dot on the map, writing dragon island next to it. He looked at the sun, he guessed they were heading North-West. He drew another dot on the map, this one indicating the sea stack ahead of them.

He flipped the page so he faced the back of his new map and started writing notes. He wrote about what had he encountered on Dragon Island. Fresh water was the first mayor thing. If he was to survive in the wild he'd need to make sure he would be able to always find a source of fresh water. He could also travel further north, where the snow would already be settled for winter, and get water from ice and snow. But then he'd also risk freezing, so he guessed it would be best to stay a bit more south, keeping to the 'warmer' areas of the archipelago.

The also wrote down his discovery of the oats, since that was also the one he was the most proud of, it was a shame that the giant dragon lived there, since he'd be happy to set his camp up there. Plenty of food, plenty of water.

He sighed, perhaps he'd return there some other day. Maybe he could try to fully map the island, or to at least find some more food and sources of water. At any rate, he'd first like to keep as far away from the large dragon as possible, and he had a feeling Toothless would agree with that.

The sea stacks were growing larger now, and they were almost there. Toothless let out a happy warble as he prepared himself to land on one of the large rock formations. It had a nice grassy top, with a few trees that bravely faced the elements on the almost barren sea stack. Hiccup shifted the tailfin, and Toothless did so too with his half. They pitched up and slowed down, and gently landed on the top of the sea stack.

Hiccup still surprised himself with how well the flying went, especially now that flying together felt like it was the most natural thing in the world.

He unhooked himself from the saddle, swinging his leg to the other side and sliding down from it. The grass was flattened underneath his feet. Hiccup stretched his leg. They hadn't been flying that long, but his legs still felt a bit sore.

He looked around him, the sea stack was a welcome change from the mist covered dragon island. It did make him realise how small the island was though. From wherever he stood, he could see the other end of the sea stack's top. It felt almost claustrophobic in a weird way.

He walked towards the edge, looking down onto the tops of the smaller sea stacks. It looked like one of them had a rocky surface, which had formed a natural reservoir of rainwater. It wasn't large, but from where he stood the water looked clear and clean. He checked around his current sea stack, but there wasn't much there. The trees were sturdy and old, large pines that rose tall from the ground. Some of their roots were unearthed, clawing around the rocky sides of the sea stack, disappearing in nooks and crannies.

He walked over to Toothless, who was batting his paw at a small sapling that stood among the trees. "Can I borrow you for a moment buddy?" He asked, climbing on the back of the dragon. He didn't bother to strap himself in this time. "What do you say we pop over to the next one?"

The dragon looked at the sea stack Hiccup was pointing at, and happily obliged. With a graceful leap and a short glide the dragon landed calmly on the next sea stack. This one was indeed rockier and not at all as lush as the other one, but it did feature the small reservoir. Toothless quickly walked over to it, drinking some of the water that rested in the reservoir. It was clean, and perfectly drinkable.

Hiccup slid of Toothless again, kneeling next to the large dragon at the edge of the basin. He cupped his hands together, submerging them to fill the cup he formed with water and bring it closer to his face. He calmly drank some, tasting the fresh water. He guessed it was only a few days old. It hadn't rained on Berk, but perhaps the rain had passed by the island without any problems.

He stood up, wiping the cold water off his chin. He looked back at the taller sea stack behind him. They could probably stay here for the night, perhaps they'd even be able find shelter in a small crack between the rocks. But at any rate they, or he at least, would need fire. He looked at the trees on the taller sea stack, he didn't have an axe or any kind of tool to get his own firewood. So he'd have to rely on Toothless for everything.

Perhaps if the dragon could manage to topple one tree down to the lower island he'd at least be able to walk from one island to the other. Although he'd rather have Toothless to hop from sea stack to sea stack instead of walking across a narrow pine tree.

It was probably smarter to just break off the smaller twigs and let them dry for a bit. Or check if he could find any loose twigs and branches around the trees. Fresh branches wouldn't burn properly anyway.

He sat down, he guessed they had a while until he'd have to start getting ready for the night. They'd be able to get some more fish, Toothless could eat most of it, as long as Hiccup had one to bake over the fire. In the worst case, he could try to create bread with the oats he found. But he guessed that it would be smarter if he'd make dough tonight, leave it to rest during the night, and bake it the next morning. He wasn't really looking forward to wasting too much daylight on baking the bread after all. He wanted to continue traveling with his dragon.

"Hey Toothless?" Hiccup asked as he looked at the dragon. "Do you think you'd be able to get some wood for a fire?" He asked the Night Fury. The dragon looked at him with a puzzled look. But when Hiccup pointed to the trees on the other sea stack he seemed to understand.

Partially at least.

A quick blast was enough to tear a large branch from the tree, which fell down onto the grass underneath. The end that was attached to the tree was smouldering softly. Hiccup looked at the slightly smoking pine tree. He guessed it worked. Wet wood didn't burn as well as proper dry wood. But he guessed the Night Fury would be more then able to light that branch on fire. He walked over to his dragon again. He reached for the saddle and lifted himself on the dragon's back.

Toothless understood that Hiccup probably wanted to reclaim the branch he had just shot off the tree. So, with a subtle leap he jumped from the sea stack, making a short pass through the air before they circled back towards the taller rock. They approached form an angle they hadn't before, and Hiccup scanned the surface of the rock carefully, looking if there were perhaps placed in the rock where they could spend the night in shelter.

His eyes fell upon a patch of shade between rocks, but as Toothless closed with the sea stack he could not find the time to notify his dragon. He'd do it on the way back.

They landed calmly, and Toothless walked over to the still smouldering branch, picking it up with his jaws. Toothless turned his head, trying to get eye contact with Hiccup. In doing so, he nearly knocked the young rider from his back with the branch. Hiccup only narrowly avoided the large fresh branch, and was glad that the lush side had been heading for him, not the smouldering one.

After realising what almost happened Toothless quickly manoeuvred the branch away from Hiccup. He still tried to get eye contact with his rider though. Hiccup stood in his stirrups, leaning over Toothless' head so the dragon could look up to see him. The dragon warbled something strange, the sound deformed by the branch in its mouth. Hiccup smiled at the Night Fury, and patted him on the side of the head.

"I think I saw a crack in the rocks on our way here." Hiccup said calmly as went from patting to scratching the dragon. "What do you say we check that out bud?" He asked. Toothless response was clear, the dragon bent its knees, waggling its tail behind him, striking the grass and the sapling that grew on this island. Hiccup held on tightly, sitting down on the saddle again.

Toothless took that as his cue, and after a short run he leaped off the side of the sea stack, he spread his wings as he did so. Slowly gliding for a second before beating them. They circled around and between the sea stacks, allowing Hiccup to search for the same spot of shade again. He found it, and after a second pass Toothless saw a small outcropping where he could land.

Barely though.

After a lot of scratching claws and a couple wingbeats Toothless managed to stay on the outcropping. Once Hiccup was confident that Toothless had solid ground underneath all his paws he unbuckled himself from the saddle and slid off.

The patch of shadow was indeed a small cave. It looked relatively deep, and Hiccup could feel a soft breeze coming from it. He guessed that there was a small entrance somewhere on the other side, where the wind blew against the sea stack. It looked like the cave quickly grew narrow though. He'd probably be able to fit in further in the back, and Toothless could sleep closer to the entrance. It depended on how cold it would be, otherwise he might lie close to the dragon again, not just for warmth, but also for the comfort.

He looked at Toothless. The Night Fury was looking at the darkness inside the cave, its ears turned towards the opening. Hiccup guessed that Toothless heard something inside, because after he while the dragon calmly placed the branch on the ground. He huffed a couple of times, his ears and eyes still focussed clearly on the cave.

Hiccup saw how Toothless drew in a breath, and braced himself for the roar that was about to come. He knew that look on the dragon all too well, since it was printed in his memory after the time the Night Fury had roared to him when he had just cut him loose.

Hiccup covered his ears just before the Night Fury roared. The loud, almost deafening roar echoed in the cave, apparently it was deeper then Hiccup had thought. But besides the echoing roar he also heard other noises.

Before he could explain the other sounds a flock of four Terrible Terrors flew from the cave. Screeching and squawking as they left. It seemed they weren't happy that the large black dragon evicted them from their home. But Hiccup guessed the small dragons were better adapted to living out in the wild then him.

Hiccup stepped into the cave. Toothless following him in, but the two quickly realised that it was a tight fit. Hiccup looked around, a few rocks lay on the ground, and a couple of fishbones lay sprayed in the cave, picked clean of any meat. Hiccup guessed the water here were rather fish rich, since the fish could hide in cracks between the rocks to seek shelter from most predators.

"What do you say we get some food buddy?" Hiccup said as he turned to his dragon, which in response backed up out of the cave. The sun had turned to the other side of the sea stack, leaving the entrance of the cave covered in shade. Toothless used all of his agility to turn around on the small outcropping, eventually finding a way to perch himself facing the sea, his back and tail partially in the cave.

"I guess that's a yes." Hiccup said softly as the dragon turned his head to look at the young rider. Hiccup calmly walked past the dragon's side, grabbing the branch and pulling it slightly inside the cave. He didn't want to risk it falling into the water when they took off.

He also placed the oats and his flask in the cave. He didn't think the Terrible Terrors would be back any time soon. He climbed on Toothless' back and strapped himself in. And Toothless quickly took to the air. Toothless flew calmly around the sea stacks, scanning the surface for schools of fish again. It didn't take long to find them. These waters were indeed rich of fish.

Hiccup didn't even have to audibly signal Toothless, a simple shift of the tailfin was enough for the dragon to follow in the dive. They practised the same routine as they had done earlier that day. Toothless struck the water, this time he had to fly through the cloud of vapor though, since they were too close to the rock wall.

Hiccup didn't mind that much, he wasn't soaked or anything like that, and he'd soon have a bit of fish to for dinner. Toothless flew straight up in the air, stalling once the gravity started to force him back down. The dragon rolled over, Hiccup assisting him with the tailfin. He felt a rush after doing the manoeuvre, and guessed that it wouldn't be strange for them to do some tricks if they had the time and energy to spare.

After a quick scoop Toothless had a considerable mouth of fish, but decided to keep the fish there for now. Some still twitching and trying to escape. The duo landed on the small outcropping again, a bit smoother this time. Only Toothless' hind leg missed the outcropping, but after a quick replacement had also found solid ground underneath him.

Hiccup slid from the saddle again. Grabbing one of the fish from Toothless' mouth. "Thank you." He said as the fish twitched in his hand. Toothless quickly raised his head, swallowing most of the fish whole, only chewing once to cut a few in half with his teeth.

Hiccup however turned to the opening of the cave, he placed the fish on the ground, the tail twitching slightly. He grabbed a rock from, looking at the fish. "Sorry fish." He said as he lifted the rock. "But it's you or me." He closed his eyes and lowered the rock, feeling some of the slime of the fish splatter against his arms. He wiped them against his vest. Toothless was licking his lips in the meanwhile.

Hiccup broke a twig of the branch, piercing it through the mouth of the dead fish. Toothless turned around, walking backwards into the cave. The Night Fury laid down calmly, a soft sigh exiting his mouth. Hiccup could still smell the fish.

He stood up, dragging the branch towards the opening of the cave. Leaving it on the outcropping just outside though. He looked at the Night Fury, who seemed to have intended to have an after-dinner rest. "If you'd be so kind?" He asked, pointing at the log and turning away. Toothless kept lying on the ground, and effortlessly fired a small ball of purple fire towards the log, lighting it aflame.

Hiccup turned back after he had felt some of the splinters land in his neck. The log was burning calmly in the centre, a gentle trail of smoke rising from it, flowing away from the sea stack. He looks at it with pride. Sure, it wasn't him who made the fire, but the two of them were surviving together. He couldn't help it, he was happy with how they were doing.

He grabbed his fish and sat down next to Toothless, leaning against the dragon as he held the fish above the fire. It slowly roasted over the soft fire. Hiccup smiled, using one hand to absently scratch the dragon besides him. The Night Fury started to make soft noises of bliss.

He couldn't blame the dragon. He himself felt relaxed too. He felt free and, strangely enough, powerful. They were doing it, exploring, surviving and managing well.

"Well bud." Hiccup began, looking out towards the sea. The dragon opened one of its eyes, looking at his rider with his large green orb. "Things are going better than expected." He said. "Don't you think so?"

Toothless let out a soft huff, leaning into the scratching that Hiccup was giving him. Hiccup turned his attention back to his fish.

Perhaps his expectations had been too low, since things were definitely going better than expected.

* * *

 **AN:**

 ** _Cough Cough_ famous last words _Cough cough._**

 **Anyway. Here it is, albeit a bit later than expected. Don't worry, most of the next chapter is already finished. This is where the story will really start to catch some speed. Or at least deepen. There will be a minor time skip. But hey, I don't think I can fit another full chapter with Hiccup and Toothless just frolicking around in the wild with nothing happening. :P**

 **Anyway, have a nice day and take care!**

 **R4y**


	4. Chapter 4, Encounters

**Banished, chapter 4, Encounters**

 **[Autumn, year one]**

* * *

The wind blew against his face roughly as they flew, his dragon occasionally flapping its wings to gain some altitude, but then stopping to let them glide a bit. Toothless let out a tired warble, trying to signal to Hiccup that he was done with flying.

"I know bud." Hiccup said as he felt his feet start to ache, they had been flying for a good part of the day, and they were both done with it. He didn't feel like one of they could take much longer. "We'll land at the first island we'll see, I promise."

Toothless warbled an approval as he tried to keep his eyes open. The dragon was used to flying long distances, but the past weeks had taken a toll the dragon and the boy. Living on their own had proven to be a lot more difficult than they had expected. Toothless didn't have that much trouble with getting fresh fish daily, or occasionally hunting for something else, like a deer or a boar. But the long days of flying, and the cold and often broken nights didn't help. Hiccup was used to a warm and comfortable bed. And although Toothless' wings gave him enough cover and pretty much sheltered him from all the elements, he still didn't always sleep as well. Toothless himself was used to sleeping at the nest, where he could calmly rest in one of the warm tunnels that were heated by the large volcanic system that was inside the mountain.

Hiccup felt Toothless slowly turn to one side, and he could see how the sun was again setting on the horizon. "Stay awake bud." Hiccup encourage his dragon with a tired voice. Petting him gently on the side of his head. The dragons half lidded eyes shot open again, and he steadied his flight. The Night Fury didn't often have trouble with flying because he was tired, but it the mixture of intense weeks and the change of his regular pattern that caused him to be so tired.

He would usually sleep during the day, he was kind of nocturnal after all. He wouldn't always sleep during the day, sometimes staying up to make a few flights or catch a snack, but not much else. The Night was when he was the most active. Flying around the nest, scouting for ships that could be a threat or schools of fish the he could eat from. Some nights there were the raids of course, but they those didn't matter that much to him. He usually circled the battlefield, never taking back food or anything for the queen. She didn't expect anything from him. He usually watched out for his fellow dragons, aiming for the weapons that could really do a lot of damage to his fellow dragons. The catapult tower was always one of his favourite targets, large, sturdy and stationary. It was easy to hit, but tough to destroy. The Vikings always build it in such a way that it could take quite a beating before it could be taken down. But that was the challenge.

He remembered his last raid, he had just fired the finishing shot at the catapult's base, destroying the large towing into a crumbling piece of rocks. But he hadn't seen Hiccup's attack coming. The dragon had discovered that the young boy was a genius, and he was convinced that he could achieve anything if he'd put his mind to it. He had been wary of the young Viking at first, but the offer of food was impossible to resist when he had brought it up. A nice and steady supply of fish was the base for any friendship. And he had returned the gesture to the boy, sharing his first meal with him. It was strange how the appetite of the boy changed depending on how burnt the fish was.

It was a strange bond they had, but he liked it. And although he had learned that this was the boy that had maimed him and had taken his ability to fly from him, he didn't feel anger to him. Any Viking would do that, it didn't make him special. What made him special was that he gave him a chance, he didn't kill him when he could have. Toothless didn't know if he didn't have the guts or if he really didn't want to do it at first, but he had learned that the boy was sorry when he had brought him fish. He could have easily led him starve in the cove, he literally had to do nothing. But he hadn't. He had brought him fish, daily. And he had eventually granted him with the gift of flight again.

Sure, he didn't like the young Viking on his back at first, and their training sessions had convinced him that Vikings weren't meant to fly. They were meant to stay with both of their little tiny legs on the ground. That idea had been imprinted in his mind after Hiccup showed him some sea stack from way too close.

But then something had sparked between them, and at the best time possible. He had feared that he was going to die, swatted against a sea-stack like a fish against a rock in the stream. But they had cooperated, they had worked together perfectly, and they had safely navigated the maze of sea stacks that were flying through at incredible speed. He had released a fireball in his joy that he was alive.

This was how he learned that Vikings weren't as flame retardant as he thought.

"There!" Hiccup said, breaking Toothless' strain of thought. He looked at the young boy on his back, following his extended arm to look what he was pointing at. In the distance, almost hidden on the horizon, was an island. It looked pretty large, the cliffs occupying a short part of the horizon, but they were still quite a bit away. "An island." Hiccup said softly, and Toothless wasn't sure if he was talking to himself, thanking his gods, or informing him.

Toothless corrected his flight, heading straight for the island, looking closely which part of the cliffs were closest to them. He knew that they'd have to find a sheltered place to sleep, since the nights were getting colder, but he first just wanted to be safely above land, since he felt like he could fall from the sky at any moment.

"You can do it bud." Hiccup encouraged his dragon as he patted him gently, careful to not treat him too much and let him relax, since that could very well cause the dragon to fall asleep mid-flight. Something that he really didn't want to happen when they were high above the ocean.

Toothless was running on fumes, and so was Hiccup, but if any of them fell asleep they would crash. Toothless relied on Hiccup to keep him stable during his flight, and Hiccup relied on Toothless to keep him flying at all. So the two had to look out for each other.

Toothless felt the tailfin shift to a position it wasn't supposed to be in, and he had to compensate by throwing his full body the other way. He quickly jerked his head roughly, using his own ear to hit Hiccup, keeping him from fully falling asleep.

Hiccup quickly sat up straight, noticing that Toothless was all the way sideways to compensate for the tailfin, he quickly turned it back the way it was supposed to be, allowing Toothless to level out again. "Sorry." Hiccup muttered sleepily, yawning as he stretched.

The dragon pushed them into a shallow dive, allowing them to gain speed and reach the island faster. Hiccup squinted his eyes as the wind hit them, which was bad since closing them fully felt so good, so satisfying and so deliciously relaxing. His eyes had burned softly while they were calmly flying, and the wind wasn't helping. He used all his willpower to keep them open, since he was sure that if he closed his eyes that he wouldn't open them until sunrise the next day.

Toothless prepared them to land, sticking his front paws out to catch the ground. They were coming in fast, and he had no intention of slowing down. He had found a nice flat part of grass on the cliffs, where he could perfectly land with a bit of speed and slow down running. He started preparing to run, his paws already moving to accommodate for the quick moving ground they soon had to use to move.

It went as bad as it could, as soon as Toothless' first paw hit the ground he tried to run, but he wasn't able to keep up with the speed that they were going at. They rolled, Toothless quickly wrapping his wings around Hiccup to protect him. They both closed their eyes, coming to a halt after sliding through the grass for a bit.

Hiccup groaned softly, but Toothless could hear that it was more discomfort than anything else. He felt a hand reach up to the saddle, unhooking the rope that connected the two. Toothless wrapped his wings tight around his rider. Happy that he was safe and that he didn't get wounded. His eyes closed slowly, and he quickly arrived in the dream world.

Hiccup could hear how his dragons breathing slowed, and he could feel how the wings tightened around him. He felt a bit bruised from the landing, but it was probably not that bad. He got comfortable, wincing as he felt some parts of him protest. He was definitely going to be bruised the next day. He hissed softly as he closed his eyes, accommodating the pain. But the thing he noticed most that the sting in his eyes slowly disappeared as he closed his eyes. He kept them like that. He tried not to move, he knew he wouldn't be waking Toothless up anytime soon. But he didn't want to feel his bruises until next morning.

The two didn't care for shelter this night, they only cared about sleep. Much needed sleep. The last few weeks had been tough on the two, hunting and gathering food to supply a dragon and a teen had proven to be pretty tough work. That and the two had been flying the entire day for the last couple of days. They both wanted to get as far away as possible. Hiccup had discovered that they were still within range of the Red death a little more than a ago, and had one day woken up to the dragon standing at the edge of a cliff, looking out back the way they had come from. His eyes were turned to slits and it was almost like he was hypnotised.

At first he had just stood there, mindlessly staring out towards the sea, Hiccup had joined him soon, and his pupils had slowly began to dilate. Hiccup had calmly talked to Toothless, and he eventually was able to resist the calling of the Red Death. However, he could still hear it. It was agonizing for Hiccup to see his friend change from mindless and controlled to pawing at his ears to make the sound stop. He didn't want to hear it anymore, he didn't want to listen.

What was the worst for Hiccup that he could do nothing. He could only sit with Toothless, the dragon that he now knew for a full five weeks, and talk with him. He could only sooth him, trying to take his mind of the voices or whatever he was hearing, trying to lure him back.

He hated it. He hated it incredibly, so he had made it his number one priority to get Toothless as far away from the Red Death as he could, at least to the point where the dragon wouldn't be able to hear the calling of his former master.

Hiccup felt proud to say that he didn't fear dragons, on their trips he had encountered a couple. Usually the dragons were wild and not a part of the Red Death's nest, which gave Hiccup the idea that there was some sort of limit to what the huge red dragon was able to control. Sometimes these wild dragons were too skittish, fleeing instantly or simply hissing for them to keep their distance, but other times Hiccup and Toothless managed to approach them, and Hiccup managed to safely pet and scratch the dragon. They would sometimes tag along for half a day or so, before turning back and heading to where they came from, or just going their own direction.

Hiccup relaxed his mind, trying to stop thinking about the days gone by. They didn't matter anymore. What truly mattered was what was going to happened next. Hiccup had often spend his evenings thinking about the possibilities. Perhaps they could settle somewhere, create a permanent camp, somewhere where they had plenty of water and food, and they could calmly live in solitude. That was the best guess in Hiccup's opinion.

Even more ideal would be if they were close to a village or settlement, that way they could occasionally trade with them. Hiccup had grand plans already. He could make a forge, perhaps even train a dragon to keep it hot. They were the dreams of a young apprentice, having his own forge. He would have everything mechanised, probably by a water wheel, since it was sturdy and reliable. He could easily mechanise a heavy hammer and anvil to do easy smithing. He could use the water wheel to turn a large cog, with a rod connected to it that would push the large hammer down and release it at its peak, before pushing it down again as it came around the second time.

To bad that he was usually got these ideas when he was tucked in Toothless' wings, since now he couldn't write them down in his notebook. His map had grown with a couple of more island. Each now also marked if he found signs of the large dragon's influence. It seemed as if they were in the clear. He guessed they could stay on this island for a while, it had seemed large, but would explore tomorrow.

He hoped that after the winter things would start to look up. He knew that the weather was only going to worsen, so he wasn't planning for getting off easy on that. But he had hoped that the winter would be mild, and that they wouldn't have too much trouble surviving with the two of them.

He shook his head, clearing it from his worries and his fear, and filling it with his ideas that he had for the world, calm and healthy villages, filled bellies, peace between dragons and Vikings, and automated smithies. And even though he didn't write down all his ideas and plans, he had everything pictured in his mind.

And as sad as it was, it was as clear as ice, they were all dreams.

But that didn't matter, because dreaming wasn't forbidden, and it was healthy to have some unrealistic ideas for an unforeseen future.

* * *

The morning was cold, and his legs hurt because they had been exposed to the cold air early. Apparently Toothless had found it to be too warm between his wings, and had allowed a small bit of wind to pass through it. It had cooled the dragon off, and he hadn't minded, but the boy inside the wings now had a soft sting in his leg from the cold.

Hiccup calmly pressed against the wings, trying to push them away from him. Toothless' first response had been to wrap his wings around him tight again. But after Hiccup tried to escape some more the dragon had allowed him to exit his tight embrace. Hiccup stood calmly and stretched, groaning softly. The soft sting in his leg paired perfectly with his bruised body. And he looked at his dragon, and the trail in the dirt that they had left behind him during the landing.

"Rough landing last night." Hiccup said softly to the awaking dragon, who yawned calmly as he stood up, folding his wings along his side. The Night Fury shook itself, not appearing to be bruised or anything. Dragons were a bit more resilient than Vikings after all. "Thanks bud." Hiccup said as he gently patted the dragon on the side of his head. The dragon leaning into the touch in the hopes of it becoming scratching, Hiccup understood and calmly obeyed. "You've kept us safe another night."

Toothless' response was a short lick on Hiccup's chin. The dragon had learned that the Viking didn't always enjoyed being bathed in his saliva, so he decided that he'd only do that when he really couldn't hold himself back. He warbled happily as he showered his rider with affection, before getting excited for the new day on their adventure and starting to run around, jumping against some of the big trees that stood at the edge of the small field of grass they had landed in.

"Calm down bud." Hiccup chuckled as he saw the dragon jump around the place, his tongue hanging from his mouth. While Toothless calmed down a bit, now just walking circles around him impatiently he grabbed his flask, feeling that it was extremely light. He opened the end of it and held it upside down, which was a bad idea if there still was some precious water inside it. But the only thing that fell out of it was one small drip. "We'll have to find a new source of water bud." He said as he put the flask away again. Toothless already a few meters into the forest. "You lead the way."

They had discovered that, although it was slower, exploring forests by foot was a better way, because you often saw more and it was also more fun. He calmly walked through the forest, they were smart enough to head more south, where it could be a bit warmer and where the trees slowly changed from tall pines to sturdy oaks. He walked, leaves crunching underneath his feet. Autumn has also visited this part of the archipelago, and it had turned the forest that would once be green into a pattern of different brown and yellow colours.

It was beautiful, Hiccup thought as he walked through it. The fallen leaves had covered the ground with their different colours, and it was extremely amusing to see Toothless run around the crunchy leaves. It was good to see the dragon enjoy himself, even though his life had been changed forever.

He watched with joy as the dragon jumped against the trees, running ahead and then returning to him. He would usually do this, scouting ahead in every direction. This way they did cover more ground, and if he found something of interest he would drag Hiccup towards it. He had found a small creek once, and he had made sure that Hiccup knew it. The dragon had almost shoved his face into the cold water, where plenty of fish were swimming. They had spent a night there, eating some of the fish that Toothless' could catch form the creek while Hiccup made a simple shelter. In the end Toothless had accidently knocked it down, and the two were forced to sleep under the cover of the trees and stars.

Toothless ran by him again, his tongue hanging from his mouth. It was amazing to see how glad he was that he was free, at least that was what Hiccup thought. He himself was overjoyed with his new freedom, although it was tougher than he had expected.

He ran after his dragon, the cold in his leg would soon disappear as he moved the muscles, they would heat themselves up. He chased his dragon through the forest, eventually stopping as he saw his dragon running towards him with a large smile, running behind him and pushing him with his head. Hiccup walked slowly as Toothless pushed him gently. He had probably found something, so it was bound to be good.

He pushed Hiccup toward a rock wall, where a small puddle of water was caught in a hole. Hiccup couldn't see if it was rainwater of if there was a spring or something, but it looked clear enough to assume that it was clean. He quickly grabbed his flask and removed the cork. Pushing it underneath the water.

Bubbles escaped from the opening as water flowed in. It was a satisfying thing to see, new fresh water, one of the most important things for their survival. Once he was content with the amount of water he corked the flask again, placing it back. He stepped back, allowing Toothless to also enjoy the water, the dragon lapped up a lot of it, enjoying the cold water to hydrate his mouth.

Hiccup calmly watched as Toothless licked the basin empty. He smiled as the dragon turned to him pressing his wet and now cold nose against him. Hiccup shivered a bit but hugged the dragon back. It was these small moments that they really enjoyed each other's company.

The rest of the day was calm, Hiccup had gathered a few berries, letting Toothless sniff them to indicate if they were poisonous or not. He had a pretty good idea of which ones he could eat and which ones he couldn't but it never hurts to check.

Toothless had also eaten some of the berries, the flights of the last few days had left his wings sore, so he couldn't fly comfortably, and he didn't feel like going fishing. Luckily the dragon could take a bigger punishment, even in terms of food, so the berried that Hiccup knew weren't too good for him were often accepted by Toothless, who would eat them with glee.

They had explored the woods some more, and were surprised with the size of the island, although it seemed to be lacking quite some resources. There was plenty of wood, that was for sure, but that was pretty much everything. They hadn't discovered any creeks or large reserves of fresh water, or places where they could easily shelter. But Hiccup guessed they had only seen a small part of the island.

One of the things they had found was a cave. The cave was lying near a clearing, and didn't look too big, but Hiccup wasn't sure it was safe. Toothless had roared into it and seemed confident that there was nothing, he had walked in without hesitation, leaving Hiccup outside.

It only took a few second for him to see the green eyes come from the darkness again, and Toothless walked out of it completely unharmed. He looked content with the cave, and Hiccup felt confident that it was safe.

Finally, a proper shelter, they wouldn't be sleeping under the stars that evening. Hiccup looked up at the clouds, they were thick and grey, and he expected rain soon.

"We better get some firewood." Hiccup said as he looked at Toothless, they could really use a fire, since it would keep them just a bit warmer at night. And it would also fend off any other animals who hoped to find shelter in the cave. He walked towards the forest, Toothless following him.

Their teamwork was impressive, Hiccup would grab smaller twigs and branches, while Toothless could drag large branches, and sometimes small trees, back from the forest. Hiccup ran down a small incline with wigs in his hands. Tripping over a log that lay at the bottom of it. It felt like just a few weeks back, rolling a bit and hitting another tree, but this time he didn't keep lying on the ground for a second, he heard the soft sound of thunder in the distance, and one the famous autumn storms could very well soon be upon them.

He grabbed his bunch of twigs, sticks and branches. Carrying them towards the cave. He felt his ankle ache, it was probably from the fall, or from the rough landing of yesterday. And he guessed it would wear off in a while. He arrived at the cave just in time to see Toothless drag a large branch into it. He stumbled inside, having trouble properly seeing, anything. He tried to follow the sound of the branches being dragged across the stone, wondering where Toothless was exactly.

He found him, accidently by bumping into him. "Sorry bud." He apologised. "I can't see very well." He dropped his wood to his right, Toothless calmly shoved a bit of it aside and shot a small flame onto it, the fire burned through the wood, and at first there were just a few embers, but after a few seconds the wood started to light fire.

Hiccup could now see a little bit of the cave, but his vision in the dark was ruined even further as the light of the fire reached his eyes. He looked at Toothless, and walked over to him. Toothless wined with worry as he saw him limp a bit. "Don't worry bud." Hiccup reassured him. "I just misplaced my foot back there." He said as he scratched the dragon. A bit of light had poured into the cave, but the dimmed clouds filled the sky. And Hiccup could hear the crack of thunder in the distance.

The cave went downwards ever so slightly, but they had found a small part which was just a bit higher than the rest, that way they wouldn't be awoken by a bit of water streaming into here. He leaned against Toothless, still not fully rested after the previous day. It was a mixture of exhaust and hunger, perhaps the next day they could manage to get some food.

He hoped so, he didn't want to go without food for too long, but with a bit of luck Toothless was able to fly properly tomorrow, so they would be able to fish.

* * *

When he woke up it wasn't raining anymore, and the fire had died down, only a few embers were lying in the pit. He slowly pushed Toothless' wing away, the temperature in the cave was cold, but it wasn't as cold as the previous morning, probably because of the rain, a clouded sky meant warmer nights.

Hiccup gently stepped out of Toothless' embrace, wincing as he felt his foot from yesterday. He walked to the smouldering embers to put a bundle of twigs on them, hoping they would catch fire again. He looked around the cave, his eyes more used to the darkness than yesterday. He could now clearly see the shape, it was curved, and they had placed the fire at the end of it, that way the smoke couldn't trap them. They had lied down in front of the fire, and from there the cave continued a few meters before turning off and heading to the left, from where a faint light shone, it was probably still early in the morning, so the sun would be shining into the cave. Hiccup calmly sat down, careful to rest his leg, grabbing his flask for a drink. The large flask was probably half filled from what he guessed. He removed the cork that kept the water from spilling out, and calmly took a few swigs to hydrate his dry mouth.

The cork fitted neatly back into the end of the flask, and he calmly put it back. He stretched and checked the amount of wood they had left, probably enough for two days. That meant that they could sleep in the cave for a couple of night before they had to find new, so they only had to worry about food today. He still had some water, so that could also wait until tomorrow. So they only needed food, beside that they could just explore the island.

He stood up carefully, using a few rocks for support, he limped a bit before he was able to look outside the cave, using his hand to shield his eyes form the soft but blinding sun. It hung low on the horizon, and it shone right into the cave. He looked outside the cave, a small clearing of pebbles and grass in front of them. The forest looked as beautiful as ever, the sun was a perfect addition to the palette of colours that the leaves carried, whether they were still hanging from the trees or not. His eyes adjusted to the brighter light of the outside world, and he could see that the clearing wasn't as empty as he had expected, inside the clearing there was a deer. It probably wasn't an adult, since it looked smaller than a full grown one, but it was still pretty big.

Hiccup looked at it from the cave, the deer would solve the problem of food for a while, at least for a few days. But he had nothing to take it down with. He heard his stomach rumble, he hadn't eaten that well the last few days. Sure, Toothless could easily get fish from the sea, but it had been difficult with the amount of flying they had already been doing, and Hiccup had discovered that if the dragon was active he would eat a lot more fish than he had expected. Hiccup had granted the dragon this, he was after all the one who carried him and their belongings from island to island, so he needed his strength.

Hiccup felt if he had anything he could use against the animal. He could take a stick and try to sharpen it on the rocks, but he would never be able to get close enough to the dear to attack it, let alone kill it. He would never be able to chase it down, especially with his leg aching like it was.

He could get Toothless to attack it, but then again, he didn't think there would be much left of the dear. The only reason that they could catch fish easily was that the shock of the plasma bolt hitting the water stunned them, making them float to the surface and easy to grab. But he had already discovered that hunting for other animals wasn't as effective as he thought. Toothless didn't like hunting boars and dears, they required him to either pounce on them and somehow kill them, which would usually involve him biting down on their head or keep them pinned until Hiccup could kill them, which proved to be quite difficult since the animals often struggled a lot, trying to break free.

He thought about it, it was almost too good of a chance to let go. The deer was such an easy target, probably separated form it's herd. They could easily take it, they wouldn't be see so quickly from the darkness.

He heard a soft stirring behind him, and he quickly turned to Toothless who was slowly waking up. "Shhh," she shushed the dragon, the Night Fury's eyes opening wide from surprise. He silently got up and looked at his rider, who gently motioned for him to come towards him so that he could also see into the clearing. "Come." He said softly.

The dragon also took a second to adjust his eyes to the bright light, but once he had he could also see the dear clearly, standing in the sun, eating some of the grass that grew in the clearing. Toothless looked at his rider, expecting an order or an idea. Hiccup merely looked, not telling him to do something, but leaving the choice with him.

"Should we take it?" He asked as he looked at the dragon, before looking back at the deer. "It would give us food for a while." Toothless turned his head to Hiccup and huffed softly. "I know you don't like deer, but that would mean more fish for you." Hiccup pleaded, a supply of fresh meat would give them plenty of food for a week or so, and it would allow Toothless to only catch fish for himself, and not have to worry about Hiccup.

The idea of extra fish did help with getting the dragon to favour the idea of attacking the deer, but he was still sceptical. Hiccup sighed, they both didn't like killing animals, but they had also learned that it was sometimes necessary for survival. "Look, you just pin it down." He said softly as he pointed at the deer, the dragon looking at him with a questioning look. "I'll finish it off." Toothless looked at Hiccup questioningly. "It doesn't even have antlers." Hiccup added. "There's no danger."

They both looked at the deer again, it looked like it would be the best choice to attack it. Toothless looked at it with interest, his large eyes fixated on the small game. He crouched a bit, preparing to pounce on the deer.

A soft but faint whistle was all that Hiccup needed to know that something was wrong, he quickly stepped in front of Toothless, blocking his way and preventing him from pouncing on the deer. Toothless tensed up, having to suddenly prevent himself from jumping. They could both see how the deer had raised it head, only for an arrow the pierce it's neck. The deer quickly tried to run, but the arrow had probably hit something important, since it tripped and fell to the ground, its legs kicking, trying to get up again.

Toothless eyes turned to slits as he felt his rider's heartbeat rise. Hiccup wasn't shocked because he just saw the deer get killed, so was the way of nature. He had already seen Vikings hunt often enough, and he had also been able to see the occasional rabbit been grabbed by a fox. But what scared him was the way that the deer was struck.

An arrow had hit him, and he could see the blood covered tip sticking out from the side of the twitching deer's neck. Killing a deer with a single arrow was tough, usually the animals took two or three to properly take them down, or you just had to track the wounded animal, hoping it would bleed out and that it hadn't been found by other hunters like dragons or wolves.

Hiccup looked at Toothless, noticing that the large dragon was still ready to pounce, now waiting for whoever came to claim the kill. "Calm down bud." Hiccup said, slowly trying to push the dragon back further in the cave, back into the shadows. Toothless relaxed, and calmly stepped back, but didn't let his eyes wander away from the deer, waiting for a threat to show itself.

"Get back." Hiccup said, trying to get the dragon far enough past the bend that his eyes wouldn't be seen in the dark. He had discovered that a part of the reason that Toothless had such excellent night vision was because their eyes absorbed a lot of light, even where there was just a little bit. The only downside to this was that in a dark location his eyes almost seemed to shine. Something that had given him quite a scare the first time he woke up like that, but now it worked reassuring for him.

He had safely managed to get Toothless around the corner. And he himself had found a safe place at the back of the cave, hiding in the shadows. This way he could get a good view at what was happening without exposing himself. Luckily the sun had moved a bit, no longer lighting the complete cave anymore. He could watch the clearing perfectly, but he could also watch Toothless, who was lying next to the few embers, his eyes just a bit illuminated for Hiccup to see.

He smiled at the dragon, and Toothless smiled back. He could sense that Toothless was nervous too, probably because he feared that Hiccup was in danger. The smile calmed him a bit, but not a lot. Hiccup turned back to the clearing, hearing a faint but heavy voice.

He listened closely, it was clearly some kind of Viking, since most of them talked with the same accent. Toothless also flicked his ears around, he could also hear the people talking, but he couldn't understand it.

Hiccup could see someone appearing, coming from the direction the arrow had originated from. It was a tall and probably strong Viking, he looked like he was also fast, but looked underfed. He had a bow in his hand, and a quiver with a few arrows hanging from his belt. He wore simple clothes and didn't seem to carry any heavy weapons or armour, so he was probably just a hunter. He had a typical large beard, and his ears were clear to see, so they must've been pretty big too. The man kneeled down next to the deer, grabbing a knife from his belt and quickly and efficiently ending the suffering of the animal.

Hiccup watched closely, but then he saw someone else approaching from the side. A young girl, tall and lean, she looked about his age. She walked over to the Viking with a quick pace, hugging the man as he cleaned his knife on his pants.

"Good shot dad." The raven-haired girl said as she looked at the deer. She also wore simple clothes, some parts cloth, some parts leather. They each looked at the deer, the father cleaning the knife from blood on his pants.

"Thanks darling." The man said with a kind and sweet tone, and Hiccup felt like he shouldn't be disturbing these people. He still really wanted that deer though, but he had seen the man's skill with the bow and arrow, and he really feared that if they ran out and just grabbed the deer that the man would surely react by shooting an arrow at him.

He thought deeply, perhaps he could talk with them, approach them innocently, trying to act like a helpless little lost boy. Although it didn't feel right, he could beg for some food, and since the man was a father himself he probably had some compassion towards children.

Hiccup thought about the perfect timing, he didn't want to startle them, since he didn't know how quick the reflexes of the man were. But as he thought about the best timing he heard a soft crackle next to him, from the end of the cave. The bundle of twigs that he had put on the burning embers had chosen the worst possible time to light on fire. And he motioned for Toothless to put it out.

The Night Fury looked at the small fire, which was rapidly consuming more and more sticks. What could he do? He first tried to blow it out, but the air only fuelled the flames. After a few second of trying to blow the fire out the dragon realised that it wouldn't work, and had diverted his strategy to swatting the fire with his paw, which effectively spread it out and doused the flames.

Hiccup looked back at the cave, the fire had apparently been bright enough for the man to hear, and he had turned to the cave, seeing the light flicker. "Who's there?" He asked as he held his dagger towards the entrance of the cave, gently guiding the girl behind him.

Hiccup cursed softly, looked like it was now or never, he motioned for Toothless to stay put, and the dragon obeyed, knowing that Vikings weren't fond of dragons.

Hiccup emerged from the darkness of the cave, wincing as he limped and as the sun hit his eyes again, he could see how the man's gaze softened as he noticed that he was a young boy, but he still held the dagger out.

"Who are you?" he asked as he shielded the girl, who peeked out curiously. The man stood tall and strong, but Hiccup could see that he was not planning to attack, he wasn't even defending his catch, he was only protecting his girl.

"I, I'm Hiccup." Hiccup spoke softly, trying to act as innocent as possible. He slowly stepped forward, but stopped and raised his arms as the main raised his dagger, pointing it at him.

"What are you doing here?" The man asked. "How long have you been here?"

"I've spent the night here." Hiccup explained, feeling nervous and defenceless.

The man looked at him, Hiccup's clothes were filled with cuts, and they were pretty dirty, covered with dirt and other mess. A twig was sticking from his hair. "Where are your parents?" The man asked a bit calmer now, realising that Hiccup meant no harm.

"Not here." He said calmly, he knew he couldn't lie well so he decided to just tell the truth. "I ran away."

"Where are you from?" The man asked as he lowered the knife, he kneeled down, getting himself on eye level with Hiccup, trying to make the nervous young boy feel more comfortable.

Hiccup really didn't want to answer that question, but before he could think of anything to say the man quickly stood up, his knuckles growing white as he held his dagger tightly and his face turning grave. "Heather, stay back." He said to the young girl, gently handing her the dagger. Hiccup tensed as he the man slowly grabbed his bow, his hand resting on his quiver. "Listen closely kid." The man said calmly. "Come to me, very slowly."

Instead of listening, Hiccup stepped back, and saw the man's face grow fearful as he did. "I'm not going to hurt you." He said calmly, slowly drawing an arrow from the quiver. "And I need you to not panic." He continued. "But there is something in that cave with you."

Hiccup quickly turned around, seeing Toothless' eyes illuminated in the dark, his green eyes narrow slits, seeing the man with the bow as a threat to his rider. Hiccup quickly turned back to the man, raising his arms in defence, and stepping between Toothless and the man.

"Wait." He yelled. "Don't!" He tried to make himself as tall as possible, trying to make sure the man couldn't possibly hit Toothless. "I, I can explain this."

The man's gaze was a mixture of disbelieve, fear, and confusion. He heard a soft growl from inside the cave, and he slowly lifted the arrow to nock it in the bow. He looked at the young boy, who was basically throwing himself in between a dragon and a weapon. "Come here kid."

"No, he won't do anything." Hiccup said as he slowly walked back into the cave, wincing every time he put pressure on his leg. "He doesn't hurt people."

The man drew his bow. Hearing another growl from inside the cave. "Please don't the weapons scares him." Hiccup pleaded as he kept stepping in his line of sight. The man looked conflicted, he looked behind him, where Heather stood, not looking at the cave with fear, but looking at it with curiosity.

The man seemed to forget about his arrow as he saw the boy leave into the cave again, expecting screams and the sounds of someone getting ripped apart, but nothing came. Instead he heard soft talking from inside the cave, and it make him feel uncomfortable.

"Come out, Hiccup!" The man yelled, remembering the name the boy had told him at the start of this strange encounter. "It's safer here."

"Promise you won't hurt him." Hiccup demanded from inside the darkness of the cave, he did his best to shield Toothless, making sure that his eyes couldn't be seen from outside. "Give him a chance."

The man looked at his daughter, he didn't want to bring her in danger, but he wanted to get the other kid out of that cave. The boy looked like a mess, and he might need care. He sighed deeply, readying himself. "Alright." He said as he lowered his bow, slowly letting it relax, but keeping the arrow nocked.

Hiccup had his hand on Toothless' head. "Do you trust me bud?" He asked as he looked the dragon, his eyes growing large again. He crooned softly, he was scared for them. He could take and arrow, but he feared that Hiccup wasn't as resilient as he was. "Let's go." He said, trying to muster all his courage as he walked out of the cave.

The Viking could now see the young slowly appearing from the darkness of the cave. Behind him he could see the eyes that had seen before. The green eyes stared straight at him, but they looked a bit kinder. The full dragon slowly came into view, and the man felt himself tremble on his feet, he had thought this kid to be so innocent and harmless. But with the dragon, he could kill him and his daughter in a second.

The was frozen, looking in awe and horror as the young boy calmly guided the dragon out of the cave, he now noticed how badly he was limping. It was such a conflicting picture, the large and dangerous dragon calmly walking behind the weakened and limping boy, who kept focussed on it. He kept it calm with soft words of encouragement and compliments. He stopped a few feet in front of him, turning around, he stood beside the head of the beast, leaning on it for support.

"Let's start again." Hiccup said as he calmly cleared his throat, his voice dry and raspy. "I'm Hiccup, and this," He began, gesturing calmly at Toothless. "is my, well, dragon; Toothless."

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Yes! Another chapter done. This was originally going to be the second chapter. But I decided that some Toothless Hiccup bonding time would be fun. This'll be from where the story starts to really get some speed. But I'll probably be mentioning that in a couple other chapters too. Yaaaaay.**

 **For the people who asked questions, if you have an account I'll probably respond to them via Personal messages, If I forget, then don't sky away from sending me a message.**

 **Then, some asked about Hiccup, Astrid and possible relationships. I can confirm that this story will have Hiccstrid, but it'll take a while to really get going. Since Berk won't have ready access to dragons and they aren't sure if Hiccup's dead or missing he's not that easy for them to track down.**

 **I am planning to put in a lot of awkward, fluffy, and joyful Hiccstrid though. Definitely coming in here.**

 **As for now, since this story will be pretty big and will be the crown jewel of my story liberary for a while I'll try to upload as frequent as possible. I got a few more chapters that I have starts for. So next chapters should take a week tops. I'll try to really put some work in and try to see if I'll be able to update weekly.**

 **Anyway, that's enough not important rambling from me.**

 **Take care!**

 **R4y**


	5. Chapter 5, A New Tribe

**Banished, chapter 5, A new tribe**

 **[Autumn, year one]**

* * *

"I'm Cuyler." The father said as he stood tensely in front of Hiccup and Toothless. "And this is Heather, my daughter." He added as he gestured to the girl who stood a few paces behind him.

Hiccup calmly leaned on Toothless, trying to get some weight off his leg. It was probably just badly bruised, since he was able to walk on it. But that didn't mean that it had to be pleasant. Cuyler eyed him nervously, still wondering whether to trust this boy or not. He looked like a nice kid, perhaps a bit roughed up by the way he was living, but when he looked at his eyes he could see a calm and gentle soul.

The problem was the fire-breathing and very deadly creature next to him. "A dragon?" Cuyler slowly began, not sure how to formulate the sentence. "You have a pet dragon?" He asked carefully, not sure how the boy would react.

"Well, yea." Hiccup responded awkwardly as he patted Toothless gently on his back. "I, eh, I met him in the woods back home." He explained, it was probably best to just be honest and calmly explain. He was too nervous to worry about lying. "It was a rocky start, but we grew close."

"You grew close?" Cuyler asked surprised, trying to imagine a friendship between dragons and humans. "Like, friends?" He asked, really having trouble with the idea of the dragon being friendly.

"Yes, friends." Hiccup said, gently scratching Toothless. The dragon immediately relaxed, letting out a soft purr. This unnerved Cuyler a bit, the noise startled him. It felt strange to see such a large beast act like it was a dog that was scratched, turning in and exposing its neck to allow Hiccup better access. "He's basically like a big dog." Hiccup explained, scratching Toothless more, he scratched Toothless more underneath his chin, searching for the special spot that would make the whole dragon just drop.

He found it with ease, and Cuyler watched with wonder as the large and fearsome reptile dropped down to the ground, a content smile on its snout. It rolled softly, calmly enjoying the lasting feeling of that one spot, which he couldn't really reach himself. And even if he could, the human hands were much softer and much gentler than his claws. And they were capable of scratching just right, applying just enough pressure.

However, as Toothless dropped, Hiccup lost his support, and was forced to balance himself using his foot. He winced softly, Toothless quickly snapping out of its ecstasy and rolling over on its feet, offering his head for support. "Thanks." Hiccup muttered softly as he tried to stand upright again.

"You're hurt." Cuyler observed softly. His had to restrain himself from letting his instincts take control over him and carrying the boy back to their camp. He might be hurt, but perhaps it wasn't that bad. "What happened?" He asked, he himself had quite a history of bruises and injuries, so he had a good idea how back a hurt leg could be, and if it required some kind of medical help.

"I landed wrong." Hiccup explained calmly as he lifted his leg. "Yesterday when I was collecting firewood." He told as he tried to put it on the ground, the pain slowly rising as he placed it flat on the ground.

"Could be sprained." Cuyler muttered as he tried to take a look at his ankle. He still had it in his boot, so he couldn't observe it properly. "Have you taken a look at it?" He asked, trying to diagnose the boy properly.

"Haven't had the time." Hiccup answered. He had fallen asleep pretty quickly, hoping that the pain would be gone in the morning. "But it feels a bit tight in there." He added.

"It's probably swollen." Cuyler explained. He had sprained his ankle a couple of time, and from what it sounded that was exactly the case here. It would be over in a week or so. But that was a long time if you lived on your own out in the woods. "From the way you walked I can tell that it's not broken." He explained, Hiccup releasing a sigh of relieve. He had guessed so, but didn't feel like checking. "It might take a week or so for it to heal, if you let it rest at least."

"A week?" Hiccup asked surprised, looking at his ankle. That was too long. He couldn't hunt or gather with this foot, and he couldn't just send Toothless out there alone, that was also very dangerous.

"At least." Cuyler said. "And you can't walk on it." He stated sternly. He hoped the boy would take his advice. His foot would need time to heal, and it would heal more quickly if he allowed it to rest. "It's best."

Hiccup looked at the ground, thinking. "Thanks." He said as he looked up at Cuyler, also shooting a glance at Heather. "For the advice." He added as he looked at the cave, there was nothing there but some firewood. So he'd need to catch food before the evening. "But I still have to gather food and firewood."

"I understand." Cuyler said as he watched the boy climb onto the dragon with trouble. Trying to find a way how he could get onto it without using his hurt leg. He felt something hurt inside him as he watched the boy struggle. He knew it deep down, the boy would have extreme trouble surviving on his own, especially once winter would set in.

He looked at Heather, who looked at her father expectantly. He shot her a stern look. Cuyler knew what she was trying to tell him, and he did agree with her. He couldn't leave the boy behind. He should take him back, the others could help him, they could take care of his foot and he could have something to eat. One more mouth wouldn't be that much trouble would it?

But then there was the dragon, and besides the possible trouble of the large beast going berserk in their camp, there was also the matter of food. The dragon would probably daily eat the amount of fish a person did in a week. And they simply didn't have those supplies.

"We could help you." Heather said softly, loud enough for Hiccup to hear. He turned around, looking at Heather with a surprised expression. Cuyler also looked at Heather, but with an angry expression, he was still contemplating what to do, and what if the boy's intentions weren't as pure? He did have a dragon. "We have food and shelter, and someone could look at your leg."

Cuyler turned back to Hiccup to apologize for his daughter's outburst. He wanted to explain that although this was a possibility he had to discuss it with the rest first, especially with their leader. But when he looked at Hiccup he felt his heart melt. The boy was leaning half on his dragon, frozen mid-climb as he tried to get into the saddle. He looked at him with a pleading expression, like he knew that he was about to take to offer back, and he was begging him to let him accept his daughters offer.

"I guess that is a possibility." He said softly, trying to avoid Hiccup's gaze and man himself up. "But there is the dragon." He stated calmly, perhaps he could convince him that he could come, but without the dragon. "I don't know how the others will react."

"He won't do anything." Hiccup explained. "I'll keep him calm, and he won't be any trouble."

Cuyler looked at Hiccup. He knew the boy wasn't going to leave the dragon, he felt foolish to think so. "We don't have the food to support him." He explained honestly. "We simply can't feed him."

"I'll pay you back." Hiccup offered. "He can hunt, he can catch a lot of fish in a day, but I do need to fly him." Hiccup explained. "Something I can't do with my foot."

"How much can he fish in a day?" Cuyler asked curiously, in the wild dragons would also have to supply themselves, so it did make sense that they were able to do so. "A basket?"

"Usually." Hiccup explained. "About a basked as big as this." He said as he stretched his arms about half a meter from each other. "And this high." He said, again indicating the size with his hands. "But that's in one haul, we haven't fished for a full day, we can't eat that much."

"So if you were to fish a full day?" Cuyler asked. A small spark of hope starting in his chest. It might be strange to propose it, but their fishers could fill three baskets a day, and that was with four men fishing from dusk till dawn, if the dragon could fill one basket on his own in just a small part of a day. They might be able to double their food stock. "How many baskets can he fill?"

"I'd guess," Hiccup began, thinking heavily. "Four, five, at least." He started, slowly continuing to think. "It's heavy work, so he'll need a bit of a rest." He added softly, continuing with his calculations. "At the end of the day he might have ten baskets." He finished.

"Ten baskets?" Cuyler asked surprised, his mouth ajar. If one person and one dragon could get that in a day he could supply the entire tribe for almost a week. "Ten full baskets."

"He's not made for catching large amounts, so it's not that much." Hiccup tried to explain, hoping that they'd accept the offer for his help, after he had rested of course. "Maybe a tidal dragon can catch more."

"A tidal dragon?" Cuyler asked surprised. "You think you can tame one of them too?"

Hiccup thought for a second. "I wouldn't call it taming." He began. "But perhaps we can convince him that he'd catch some fish for you." He said. "Perhaps he'll do it, in return for a scratch or something like that."

"You can train dragons like that?" Cuyler asked with hope. If they had two dragons, catching ten baskets each their food supply would be so much larger that the others wouldn't believe it. It could even mean that they wouldn't have to hunt during the winter. When storms and snowfall made it very dangerous to go outside.

"I guess." Hiccup answered sceptically. "I've befriended a few, they usually flew with us for a day or so before going their own way."

Hiccup finally managed to get on Toothless, he calmly sat in the saddle. Toothless had lowered his head all the way to the ground to allow Hiccup to finally climb on, and as soon as he lifted his neck Hiccup reached about as taller than Cuyler.

"Alright." Cuyler began. "I'll take you to the rest, but you have to keep the dragon calm." He said.

"He won't be a problem." Hiccup promised. "I'll just ride him there and keep him calm." He said, really liking the offer for some help with his leg and a bit of food.

"Alright." Cuyler said with a heavy sigh ad he walked over to the deer. He wasn't going to leave it. "Let me get this and follow me."

"Toothless could carry it for you." Hiccup offered, sliding a bit back in the saddle to make room for the dead animal. "It would safe you the trouble."

Cuyler looked curiously at him. He calmly placed the deer on his neck, using its feet to keep it stable. "I'd rather carry it myself." He said as he looked at Toothless. "No offence."

"Oh, I see." Hiccup said, a bit surprised. He understood that people weren't too quick to trust dragons with their food. "None taken." He added, wanting to make sure that Cuyler knew that he didn't mind, he was just trying to help.

Cuyler walked silently, using one of his hands to keep the deer in balance while using his other to guide Heather, he didn't want her falling too far behind. Especially since the dragon was walking behind them.

He didn't know what he was doing. How would the rest of the group react? What would they think about the boy and the dragon? They would definitely be against an extra mouth to feed, let alone one the size of a dragon. But they also wouldn't leave the boy to die alone in the winter. The dragon was a different story though.

Their tribe hadn't seen much trouble with the winged reptiles, they usually stayed clear of them, probably unsure if they were even proper prey for their usual attacks. It was good, they had heard stories about villages who had lost almost their entire supply of food, and only barely managed to catch enough to get through the winter. They needed a full year to be able to build a large enough supply to make sure not everyone died during the coldest months. If dragons only raided them once during a year they would all be doomed.

That didn't mean that there wasn't any hostility towards the beasts though. Terrible Terrors often stole some food, and larger dragons could render parts of their usual hunting ground inaccessible. Which in return both lead to shortages in the long run. Most people still saw the dragons as pests. Creatures that only existed for the sole purpose of tormenting them. Making their lives difficult and harsh.

He carefully walked through the woods, calmly stepping over branches and watching out for slippery stones that he could trip over. The deer was rather heavy, which meant that if he fell he would also have the entire weight of the dead animal on his back. He noticed that Heather looked behind them often, but it probably wasn't just to check if the boy was still following them. He could clearly hear the heavy footsteps of the dragon, as well as the occasional words the boy spoke to the large beasts. He talked to it like it was his best friend.

"Heather." Cuyler said softly, his daughter looking at him questioningly. "Eyes front, you'll trip on something."

"Right." Heather said, looking in front of her just in time to notice a root over which she would otherwise have tripped. Cuyler kept walking calmly, but noticed that Heather still occasionally looked behind her.

She couldn't help it. She had never seen the large dragons so close, let alone a Night Fury. She had heard stories about them, how they were these large evil creatures, which could destroy the defenced of towns with just a few shots. She had seen a few dragons in her life, they would run across the occasional Nadder or Gronkle in the woods, but they would usually scatter as soon as they came close, or they would avoid them. Terrible Terrors could often be seen in the treeline, carefully eyes their camp to look for unguarded supplies of food.

But this Night Fury was different, it was so sleek and actually pretty small, she had expected the dragon to be big and deadly, with large wings to support his body. She had expected the dragon to be fearsome, multiple rows of sharp teeth ready to rip anything apart, and eyes that bore straight into your soul.

The only thing the dragon behind her was slowly boring into was her heart. The dragon was like a large kitten, or horse. It slowly walked with its rider on its back. Occasionally wining a soft sound between from its gummy mouth. It looked like an oversized doll, or a soft toy to play with.

But the saddle changed him even more, this transformed the once dangerous beast into an item of utility. It changed this wild and fearsome monster into a way of transportation, a way of hunting, or a helpful aid in gathering.

She looked forward again, otherwise she would definitely trip at some point. Or get another hint from her father that he didn't want her eyeballing the dragon so much. Cuyler felt really uneasy about it.

The forest thinned. Some of the trees being swapped for mere stumps, obviously the work of woodcutters, since the chips of axes could be seen in the logs. Hiccup looked at it calmly. They were probably close to the tribe. Hiccup began to grow nervous, if something went wrong all they had to safe themselves was Toothless' speed in running. He could run pretty fast, but he still felt like it wasn't the best way if things went south.

"Anything I should know before we head into the camp?" Cuyler asked as he stopped, turning around to look at Hiccup. "Anything we need to do, or don't need to do."

Hiccup was surprised by the question, it popped his worries thoughts and made him focus on Cuyler. "I don't know." He began, thinking. "He doesn't like weapons, so it's best if no one points sharp things at him." He said, noticing how Cuyler slowly nodded. "He relaxes when you pet him, or give him some fish." He continued. "And if no one does anything he won't harm a fly."

"I'll take your word for it." Cuyler said, still unconvinced that the dragon would be truly harmless. The beast sure looked kind of calm with the rider on top of it, occasionally sniffing some of the stumps around them. He kind of looked like a dog, discovering new smells and scents.

The forest cleared, and Hiccup was greeted by the soft glow of the sun, which still hung low on the horizon. The low and dull sun shone weakly, almost as if it had lost most of its power and was using the winter to recharge for a new year. As his eyes adapted to the sudden light he looked around, and saw the camp.

It was incredibly small, a bunch of huts, made with wood, stone and basically everything they could find. Some roofs were made of twigs and planks, but most were covered with thatch. They were all small, and a few of them had smoke exiting from a hole in the roof or from a small stone fireplace in the side, crudely build with loose rocks and wooden beams.

It kind of looked like they were preparing an assault, tents scattered across the clearing and people walking around with water and building materials. People were sawing planks and cutting firewood, while others were cutting meat in pieces or bringing in baskets of fish.

So far no one had seemed to notice them as they slowly emerged from the treeline. Cuyler sighed heavily, reading himself to guide Hiccup through the camp. This would certainly be the word of the day, perhaps of the week.

"We'll need to go to the elder to clear your stay with him." Cuyler said as he noticed the first nomad looking up, his face turning to a mixture of surprise, shock and horror. "Follow me."

Cuyler calmly began to walk, perhaps he should just have gone in alone and let Hiccup wait for his return, that was probably smarter. But it was too late for that now. He calmly walked through the camp, using one hand to keep the deer in balance and using the other to greet the other nomads. He felt extremely nervous, as more and more people started to stare, looks of shock and bewilderment, mixed with fear and distrust, and sometimes curiosity.

Hiccup felt uneasy, he could hear the soft whispers from the people around him, and he knew that everyone was looking at him and Toothless. Perhaps this had been a bad idea, perhaps they should have just stayed in their cave, or moved somewhere else. He could hear the occasional gasp, and he could see how fathers and mothers pushed themselves in front of their children, ready to protect them from this vicious beast that walked through their village.

"Calm down people." Cuyler said calmly, trying to give the example. But also trying to convince his own racing heart. "He won't hurt anyone, trust me." He walked over to one of the villagers, Toothless stopping to wait for him to continue leading them further.

"Wait here." Cuyler said as he motioned Hiccup to stop. He copied his words, telling them to Toothless as he gently patted the dragon's side. He walked off and handed the deer over to another Viking. Which earned a smile from many of the villagers, more food, before they looked back at the large dragon with worry.

"Alright," He said as he returned to Hiccup, keeping a safe distance from the dragon. "Come."

Heather walked calmly behind the two, making sure no one accidently stepped on the tail of Toothless. She could now clearly see the true purpose of the saddle, which also incorporated an artificial tailfin for the dragon, which had apparently lost one. In the dark cave and in the forest she hadn't noticed the piece of leather that served as the replacement. But on the soft grass it stood out like a sore thumb.

They slowly continued through the camp, and a large group of Vikings was gathering behind them, following them closely to see what was going on. The group was slowly growing bigger and bigger as everyone dropped their work and wares to see the strange beast and rider walk through their village. Some had their hands rested on the hilt of their weapons, but none had unsheathe them so far.

That was a good sign, Hiccup thought, any other sensible Viking would have already grabbed his sword as soon as he heard about the chance of killing a dragon, let alone having one walking calmly right through his village. These people were calmer, and probably had less hatred towards the beasts.

They arrived at a large hut, made from half a tent, some stone, wooden planks and thatch. It was the closest any building here was coming to an actual house. Cuyler took a deep breath as he stood at the entrance, he turned to Hiccup. "Wait here." He said as he looked at the boy and his dragon. "I'll talk with the elder." He said as he grabbed the cloth that served as a door for the hut with one hand. "Don't go anywhere."

He disappeared into the hut, and Hiccup looked around. Not going anywhere wasn't going to be difficult since the nomads had effectively surrounded him, everyone wanting to get a good glance at the strange dragon and the even stranger boy on top.

Toothless was growing wary, he didn't like being surrounded by so many people who could potentially hurt him or his rider. He slowly started to tense, backing up towards the elders hut, his back raised.

"Calm down bud." Hiccup said as he patted Toothless on the head, but the dragon kept looking around his warily. Hiccup was also in no position to stop him, he couldn't do much from his head, only pet him and talk to him. He couldn't stop him if he decided to walk away.

He realised that it would also make him less of a threat if he dismounted from his dragon. Currently he was this strange boy, perched on top of a dangerous monster. But if he dismounted he was a little less strange, standing beside said monster. It made sense in his head, and he hoped it would work. He swung his leg over Toothless' head, preparing himself to slide of the side of his neck, preparing himself to land on one leg.

"Do you need help?" He heard a calm female voice ask. Heather stood at the front of the crowd, and was looking at him with calm green eyes, pleading him to accept help instead of trying on his own.

"I'm good." Hiccup said softly as he prepared to push himself off the dragon. "Thanks though." He pushed himself off, but as he slid down one of his protective wired snatched on a part of Toothless' saddle, which immediately caused him to fall face forward. He tried to break his fall with his feet, and sunk through his knees and fell as his sprained ankle hit the ground. He hissed softly, Toothless immediately turning around to face him. His sudden movement startled most of the Vikings around them, but they seemed to calm down once the dragon let out a soft moan to check if he was okay.

He immediately felt Toothless' wet nose pressed underneath his arm and he absently clawed at the saddle, trying to find something to hold on to. His fingers hooked behind some leather straps, sturdy enough to support his weight. Without thinking he pulled himself up, his mind still cluttered by the searing pain of his foot. With one shaky leg he tried to push himself up, while he used his hand to pull himself up with Toothless. He had come to expect the dragon to be at his side if he tripped or fell, and in the past few weeks it had become a habit to feel to his side as soon as he felt the wet nose pressed against his arm.

What he hadn't expected what the other help he received from his left though. He felt gentle hands grab his arm tightly, and he was lifted up from the ground. He looked left, seeing that Cuyler's daughter, Heather, was helping him from the ground. He decided not to question it, instead focussing his mind in placing his good foot on the ground. He kept his other foot slightly lifted, making sure it didn't hit the ground.

Toothless let out a low growl as he noticed someone was touching his rider, which triggered a fearful reaction from the group and Heather. Almost everyone did a step back, some gasping as the Night Fury barred its Teeth.

"Calm down bud." Hiccup said softly as he wrapped his other hand around the dragon. Trying to get the large beast to focus on him instead of the curious Vikings that surrounded them. "She was just helping me, calm down."

Heather was amazed to see how the dragon was slowly calmed by Hiccup's words, his back lowering as the tension left his body. The monsters slit green eyes turned large and big. Almost cute and playful. Toothless turned his head to Hiccup, looking at him while letting out a questioning moan. He was trying to protect him, protect them. He was hurt, so someone had to protect the two of them. The large dragon was confused why his rider didn't agree with his warning, but his rider probably understood Vikings better than he did.

The Nomads were surprised when they saw that the dragon could calm as quickly as it got angry, all by the soothing words of a young boy. Hiccup was still talking to Toothless, the dragon warbling some inaudible things back. It was a strange contrast. A small boy, balancing on one leg, slowly petting and scratching such a large beast. Toothless' eyes rolled back, enjoying the attention that he was getting. For a moment he forgot about the people around him, just enjoying the way his rider's nimble fingers massaged his scales, gently rubbing and scratching which game him an almost insatiable itch wherever his fingers touched, and would always leave him wanting more.

Heather left out a soft giggle as she noticed how Toothless began lifting one leg and started kicking the air absently in ecstasy. He really looked like an oversized dog right now, calmly enjoying the gentle scratches from his owner.

She felt herself compelled to it, to the two friends. Dragon and human, sworn enemies. It was a strange kind of interest, a fascination for this new and daring idea. This boy, Hiccup, was probably one of a kind. A special sort of human that could manage to enjoy the company of dragons, and which dragons accepted as a friend and ally.

She was curious why her father had lead him to the camp. She knew he was a kind man, and that he wanted to help the boy. But he felt like if it was any other boy he might not have done it. She had overheard the subjects of recent conversations, the lack of food and firewood for the winter. She knew what the either of those meant, but she had never experienced a year where both where already such a pressing concern so soon.

But her father was also protective of the group they had, and she knew that he wasn't trusting towards outsiders, since nomads were easy prey for marauders and barbarians. So why did he allow this boy in, especially when said boy was travelling with a dragon.

Perhaps he was thinking the same thing as her; that this boy, 'Hiccup' as he had called himself, was somehow special. That he perhaps he thought that he could help them somehow. She wasn't stupid, she knew that the amount of fish that the boy claimed his dragon could get was incredible. If the winged reptile was truly that efficient they could pull men from the boats and shores and get them into the woods, getting firewood to supply them with enough for the winter.

Hiccup looked around him warily. So far he could manage to distract Toothless, but the large dragon was also slowly getting used to the petting and scratching. He didn't want to overdo it, since the stares from the people around him still gave him the idea that he might need to make a quick escape at some point, and then he would need Toothless to be ready, and not a limp pile of ecstasy filled reptile.

His thoughts were broken when he heard movement behind him, from the hut. The flap of the hut opened, and Cuyler stepped out calmly. He stopped at the side of the door, and earned the eyes of almost everyone.

Hiccup looked at him with worry. Cuyler didn't meet his eyes, instead he looked at the crowd, using one of his hands to keep the flap of the hut open, probably for the elder of the group.

Hiccup prepared himself for the judgement of the elder. He seemed to be the leader of the group, so probably comparable to Stoick, his father. Big, strong, and filled with hatred towards the beasts that steal and destroy. He calmly continued scratching Toothless with one hand, but the dragon had also noticed the change in their environment. It had regained its posture and was looking at the opening in the hut with interest.

Thin, almost bony fingers wrapped around the side of the doorway. The sunlight illuminating the many wrinkles that covered them. The hands looked like small pieces of soil, broken after long years of drought, infertile and dead. They looked like fingers that had seen many winters, that had lived through a long and proud life, and were now slowly drying, life seeping through the pores of the skin, until nothing was left.

Hiccup only needed a second to prepare for the rest of the elder. A man walked out of the door, well, shuffled. He was probably as tall as the average Viking if he stood up straight, but his back was bent forward. He was clearly old, if you didn't pick that up from the way he carefully and painfully walked towards Hiccup then it could clearly be seen by his face. He was balding, the only hair he had was thin long grey hair on the back of his scalp and a short but thick beard that covered his chin and the bottom of his cheek. His eyes were squinted, probably still accommodating to the bright sunlight of the day. Hiccup realised that the men was slowly making his way around him, the sun was behind him, so he wouldn't be able to see Hiccup otherwise.

Cuyler walked next to the elder, offering his arm for support, but the elder didn't even look at it. It was the picture of the perfect old Viking. He might not be able to wield an axe, or stand at the bow of a ship during voyages, but he would still sternly refuse help.

Hiccup wondered if he'd ever see Stoick like that, if he would have ever seen him like that. Probably not. He'd probably lose his father in some dragon raid or during an attack on the nest. Chances for that happening weren't exactly slim.

His thoughts were broken when he heard the elder clear his throat, and try to speak. Hiccup looked at him curiously but he didn't hear a sound. He saw the man's thin fingers raise, pointing at the flask that Hiccup carried with him. Hiccup quickly grabbed it, removing the cork before handing it to the elder.

It was probably good that it was half full, since the elder already looked like he was struggling with the weight of the flask. The elder took a few swigs from the sack, careful not to spill any of the water. When he was done he calmly handed the flask back to Hiccup.

He licked his lips, and cleared his throat again, before he spoke with a still dry and raspy voice. "So," He began, eyeing the boy carefully, not even paying interest to the large dragon behind him. "Who might you be?"

"H-Hiccup, sir." Hiccup said nervously, he knew to respect elders, so he added the sir after it. He saw the corner of the Elders lip raise just a tiny bit, so it was probably the right thing to do. "And this is Toothless." He said as he pointed at the large black dragon behind him. "He's my, well, my dragon."

Toothless bared his teeth when he heard his name, but retracted them and took a more relaxed stance when Hiccup placed his hand on the side of his nose. Which for some reason also earned a soft smile from the elder. "Thor's beard." The elder muttered softly, looking at the young boy and the dragon. "Now I've seen everything." He breathed softly as he looked at the interaction between the boy and the dragon.

"Well, you seem to be well raised." The elder said with a smile. "So you're probably expecting introductions." He said as he slowly gestured to the group that had gathered in front of the hut. "I'm Novark, and these are my sons and daughters." He said with a soft and gentle smile as he extended his hand for Hiccup to shake.

Hiccup carefully took Novark's hand, acting like it was an ancient handle for a ceremonial axe, since he felt like even he could break it if he held too tightly. He shook it calmly, looking around the group. He could see how most of the people's faces were now curious, at least no longer hostile now that they he had been greeted by the elder.

"So, Hiccup." Novark continued, his voice slowly growing less raspy. "What brings you to our humble camp?"

"Cuyler thought you could help me." Hiccup answered carefully, fearing that there was a wrong answer too. But instead Novark smiled warmly at him.

"Always protective for the children." Novark muttered softly. "A good trait to have in a group like ours." He continued, Hiccup following his movement as he headed back towards the hut.

"Stay and rest, young boy." The elder said as he lifted the cloth that served as door aside. "And feel welcomed in our camp." He said as he looked at the rest of the villagers. "We don't want to anger a dragon master."

Hiccup gulped softly, was this wat they thought of him? Like he was some barbaric monster that would attack them if they didn't help him? That he was some kind of marauding murderer, and that he would level their huts and tents if they refused to give him aid? The thought itself sickened him. He looked around, seeing that the group had already began to disperse. A life and tame dragon was certainly something special, but that didn't mean that there wasn't any other work that had to be done, so most of the nomads calmly continued their work.

"What now?" Hiccup asked Cuyler from besides Toothless. The large man was calmly watching the last of the people walking back to whatever they were doing when they came in.

"Now you rest." Cuyler said gently as he kneeled in front of Hiccup, noting that Toothless didn't growl or move. Apparently the dragon already trusted him enough to be near his rider. "Your leg needs it." He stood up, looking at the far side of the village, where a medium sized hut stood a bit taller than the rest. "You can sleep at our hut." He said as he helped him on Toothless' back, motioning him to follow. "We'll find some space for your dragon."

"Thanks." Hiccup said as he followed on Toothless' back. The dragon calmly following the hunter. Heather walked on Hiccup's other side, a bit more in front. Which wasn't surprising, since she probably knew very well where she lived.

"What will mom thing of this?" She asked, shooting a sceptical look at her father. She knew how her mother could react to things, and she already had a good idea of how she'd react to this.

"I wish I didn't know, darling." Cuyler said with a soft smile. Looking at Hiccup who now wore a worried expression. "But it's two against one if she's against it."

"When she's against it." Heather corrected, earning a chuckle from her father. Hiccup followed the conversation carefully, and couldn't help but feel nervous for the mysterious woman he was soon to meet.

The small hut slowly grew bigger, and Hiccup grew more and more confident that the hut was indeed Cuyler's and Heather's home, along with Heather's mother. It was tiny compared to the house he was used to on Berk. But he had been the chief's son, which living wise did come with some perks. But even then he realised that the hut that they were heading to was even smaller than the average storage shed on Berk.

The walls looked like they were made from wattle and daub, the light brown colour fitted nicely with the small puddle of mud in front of the door. The door was an actual door this time though, build from a couple of planks, and some fabric to fill in holes. It seemed effective against holding the cold out, and Hiccup hoped it indeed was.

They closed the distance slowly, and Hiccup noticed that he was still getting some stares from the people around him. Some were still curious or surprised to see the strange image of the young boy riding the dragon, but a few looked at him with a small hint of fear.

He looked away and focussed on the hut in front of him. Toothless had stopped when Cuyler and Heather did too. Heather looked at her father with a questioning look, and Cuyler looked like he was deep in thought.

He was thinking about the most tactical way of bringing the news to his wife. It wasn't every day that you came home with a random child who would be staying with them for a while. He needed to be subtle, subtle and smooth. He would need to play this clever, and even if everything would go according to plan there was still a large chance that he'd have to make up for this. Since she really wouldn't like it.

"Well." Cuyler said as he sighed, looking at Hiccup and Heather, shooting them both a soft smile. "Now or never." He said as he slowly opened the door, the wooden object creaking softly as it turned on its hinges, and the smell of warm stew reaching his nose.

"Honey." Cuyler began, his eyes adjusting to the darkness inside. "We're home."

Hiccup stood outside, calmly listening to the conversation inside as Heather also stepped inside. "Wait here." She said to Hiccup before she entered. Hiccup calmly waited, listening to the voices inside.

He heard a soft female voice, different from Heather's. He immediately linked it to the mysterious mother he was soon to meet. "Hey," He heard her say, her voice carrying joy and a small hint of relief. "How was the day?"

"Good." Hiccup heard Cuyler say, pausing shortly before continuing. "We got a deer." He explained, remembering Hiccup of how they had just met that morning.

"Oh dear, that's amazing." The mother said. Once again he could hear the relief in her voice, food probably was a really big concern for them. "Did you hand it to Jonas?"

Hiccup perked up, that was a new name, but it was probably the guy who Cuyler handed the deer. He listened carefully, trying to pick up whatever he could.

"Yes love, I gave it to him as soon as we returned." Cuyler said calmly. Hiccup was glad that the house was so noisy, otherwise he would have never been able to hear this all. But that also meant that he could hear the silence that now hung in the air.

"There's something else too." Cuyler began calmly, and Hiccup felt like he was thinking about how to formulate it as he said it. "We found a boy, in the woods."

"You found a kid walking around in the woods?" He heard the mother's voice ask surprised. "Was it one of us?"

"No, he wasn't. I don't know where he's from." Cuyler explained. Hiccup wondered if he was aware that he could hear everything. "He was wounded though, had a bad limp."

"What did you do?" He suddenly heard the mother say, only her tone had changed dramatically. It was now sharp and clear, and had a very slight edge to it. "Cuyler?"

"I couldn't leave him there." Cuyler said, his voice raised a bit to defend himself. "I was sure he wouldn't survive."

"You took him here?" Hiccup heard the mother say. "Oh gods, Cuyler, why?"

"He needed help." Cuyler said sternly. "Help we can offer him."

"Sure, another mouth to feed, more people to worry about." He heard the mother say agitated, before she let out a large sigh. "I understand that you want to look out for others, it's a good trait. But sometimes you need to stop and think about yourself for a moment." He heard the older woman say. "We don't always have to help."

"I know that, it's just, this boy, he's, different." He heard Cuyler say, hearing a small giggle from Heather. If only her mother knew how different he really was. "Perhaps he can help us too."

He heard Heather's mother sigh again, this time it sounded more defeated then annoyed. "Where is this kid?" She asked, and Hiccup knew that he'd probably be introduced soon.

"He's waiting outside." Cuyler said from inside as Hiccup heard people move. "But there's one more thing you need to know."

"What is it?" Hiccup heard Heather's mother ask as she opened the door a bit. Hiccup could see her fingers on the edge of the door. They were thick and strong, but most surprisingly, clean. They looked like the hands that could provide care and love for a family. But would also wield any weapon to their access to defend them.

Basically your typical Viking woman or man.

The door opened further, and Hiccup could now fully see the mother. She was sturdy, just like Cuyler. She wore a blue clothes, along with a green and red dress, the two separated by a thick belt. The belt supported a small pouch and the sheath, holding a knife. She had black hair, and Brown eyes. And wore a small helmet, with thin, long horns.

She stood in the doorframe, one hand still on the door and the other on the hilt of the knife. Probably more for convenience than the intention to use it. At least, that was what Hiccup hoped. Her mouth hung slightly open, and Hiccup could see how her eyes scanned him and Toothless.

"Cuyler." She said softly, her voice calm, but Hiccup could feel tension in it. "What is this?"

Cuyler appeared behind her, a troubled look on his face. "Helga, meet Hiccup." Cuyler said calmly, hoping that introducing them would be a good first step. "Hiccup, meet my wife, Helga."

"Hi." Hiccup said sheepishly from the back of Toothless, raising his hand to greet the Viking woman. Helga still stared at the boy dumbfounded. She was already irritated that Cuyler had decided that it was a good idea to bring an extra mouth to feed back home. But she hadn't expected anything like this.

The boy was sitting on the back of a dragon for Thor's sake.

She snapped out of her thoughts, and tried to look at Hiccup and his dragon without focussing too much on the dragon. She could see he was young, relatively young. Probably fourteen or fifteen, and he was wearing strange clothes. Clothes which had strings connected to some sort of saddle that was strapped to the back of the dragon.

"This is the boy?" Helga asked for reassurance. "The boy you brought home?"

"Yes." Cuyler said calmly. He wanted to fill in more blanks, but decided he'd answer them when his wife asked for them. He didn't want to drown her in information all at once. He'd wait for her signal.

"And that is?" Helga asked as she moved her hand from the doorframe to point at the Night Fury. The dragon didn't act, by now it understood that the Vikings here meant no harm. They were just curious and didn't understand.

"That's his pet." Cuyler said. "His pet dragon." He continued, looking at Hiccup for some help explaining it.

"Toothless." Hiccup said as he leaned down and scratched the dragon's chin. "Come on, do the trick." Hiccup said as he took a tight hold of the saddle. And Toothless leaned back on his back legs. He slowly pulled the sides from his mouth up, forming the gummy smile which had surprised Hiccup one of the first times they met. He could see Helga, Cuyler and Heather in the door opening from behind Toothless. Cuyler had a soft smile, Heather a large one, and he couldn't quite place Helga's expression. It was like she was still trying to understand what was happening. A giant dragon was standing in front of her house, smiling at her. So Hiccup guessed that it was quite a bit to take in at once.

Toothless landed back on all fours. Helga did a small step back as he did, the dragon was large after all. Hiccup sat on the dragon's back with a small smile.

"Alright." Helga said as she looked at the dragon, before looking at Cuyler. "Why did he have to stay?"

"His leg's hurt." Cuyler explained, gesturing at Hiccup's hurt foot. "He can't hunt or fish in his current state."

"Can't the dragon do that or him?" Helga asked, placing both hands on her side. She really wasn't looking forward to having the two sleep in their house.

"Apparently he needs his foot for that too." Cuyler said. "Hiccup can explain it better."

Helga sighed deeply, and turned to her husband. "Why should we do this?" She whispered softly, making sure Hiccup nor Heather could hear. "One good reason."

Cuyler thought deeply, what could he say that would convince his wife that this boy should stay? He had a good feeling about the kid, but that wouldn't convince his wife. What would, what would convince her that helping this boy was a smart choice.

He turned his head to her ear, and whispered softly. "Imagine the fish that dragon could catch." He hoped that this would convince her. "Once that boy's foot is healed he can repay us by getting us fish."

Helga still looked sceptical, but the idea of extra food was welcome. She had also heard the word that had spread throughout the group, supplies were quite low, and winter was approaching fast. She sighed deeply, and looked at Hiccup.

"Come in." She said calmly. "But make sure he doesn't break anything." She added while she shot Toothless a stern look.

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 **AN:**

 **Well, here it is. The next chapter. Chapter 6 is halfway done. So I think I'll be able to have it up by next weekend. But we'll see.**

 **Thanks for all the reviews and the feedback, it really helps. It's just a giant boost of motivation when you see that someone likes what you're writing. It's addicting, which keeps me writing :P**

 **In the reviews there was a question about how Hiccup, Heather and Astrid would work. In short, the main paring is Hiccstrid. That'll really be the only romantic interest for Hiccup. I do wanna build a strong bond between Heather and Hiccup though. But it'll be platonic and friendship-focussed, perhaps almost sibling-like. Depends on how well it goes.**

 **Anyway, I got some school stuff to finish. So I'll see you all later!**

 **Take care!**

 **\- R4y**


	6. Chapter 6, A New Way of Life

**Banished, chapter 6, A new way of life**

 **[Autumn, year one]**

* * *

Cuyler calmly sat by the fire, the embers crackling softly as they warmed the hut. He was looking across the fire, where a scrawny boy lay against a large dragon. Both slowly breathing in their sleeping state. It was a strange picture, and not one Cuyler had ever expected to see. The dragon had one paw wrapped around the boy, and the boy held on to the paw like it was a stuffed toy.

Through the few days that Hiccup had been at the camp Cuyler had slowly started to learn more about the boy and his dragon. Apparently he had come from a village where they fought the beast regularly, since they were raided for food. Hiccup had explained that the dragons were forced to do this, but he didn't go into the details. He had claimed that dragons wouldn't hurt you if you treat them right. And Cuyler wasn't sure if it was his minds playing tricks on him or the way the Night Fury had been rolling in the grass when he said it, but he thought he believed the boy.

He had heard stories about the Night Fury. It was a dragon that was so deadly and so dangerous that they advised every Viking that could hear the sound of its whistle to run and hide as quickly as they could. For the ferocious beast would spare no one.

He had learned of a whole different truth in the past few days.

Toothless, as Hiccup called the black dragon, was a gentle and kind creature. It allowed Heather to pet it after the first day. And would gently nuzzle your hand for a piece of fish extra. The dragon would play outside, running around in the sun and rolling through the grass. Most nomads would stay away when the dragon did these tricks, but as the days passed they accepted it as normal life. They couldn't afford to watch the black blur jump around every time. They had work to do.

Cuyler sighed as he looked at the boy, so calm and peaceful. Sometimes he'd move in his sleep and the dragon would tighten his grip in the boy, or he'd hit his leg on something and wince while he dreamed.

He had also learned that Hiccup was a closed person, and wasn't a huge fan of talking about himself. He was a great listener though. He loved the stories Cuyler could tell about the days he'd hunt, stalking through the forest. Or the stories about the terrible winters they had, and how their group always had a great struggle to get enough firewood and food for everyone.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and calmly leaned his head against it. A finger nuzzled his cheek, and he calmly watched the boy sleep. He looked besides him, Helga standing next to him, also looking at the sleeping boy on the other side of the room.

"I never should have given in." Helga said softly as she watched the large dragon sleep. Cuyler sighed sadly as he heard his wife speak. She still didn't like Hiccup and Toothless staying at their home. She tolerated them, and she was nice to them too. But she didn't like the idea of them staying with them, eating their food, warming themselves by their fire. As if they didn't have enough to worry about.

"Calm down honey." Cuyler said softly as he adjusted the embers with an iron rod. "We still have food, we still have firewood."

Hegla huffed. Cuyler was always so simple. Food and firewood. That was all that would keep them alive. But what if they grew cold? Hiccup was using the spare blanket. What if food supplies ran low? The dragon ate a day worth of food in one meal. They couldn't survive like this. "You're an idiot." Helga said softly as she sat down next to him. Wrapping an arm around her husband. "Too good for this world."

"Perhaps I am." Cuyler said as he looked at his wife. He took her hand, holding it with both of his. "But I got a good feeling about this kid, I know he'll help us."

"How can you be so sure?" Helga asked. "He's a fifteen year old kid who left his old home for his pet dragon. Who says he isn't going to leave us too?"

"He won't." Cuyler said calmly. "I saw it in his eyes." He added as he looked back at the sleeping boy. "He is scared Helga, he is scared every time one of us asks him about his leg. He is scared every time we ask if he can already walk, if he can already fly again."

"He likes being cared for." Helga said annoyed. "Food and care, he'll stay forever."

"No, that's not it." Cuyler said with a small chuckle, wrapping an arm around his wife. "He tries to help." He argued. "Can't you see?" He turned to his wife. "He offers to cook, he offers to clean, and he even tries his best to keep the fire going at night, while we all sleep."

"What is your point?" Helga asked Cuyler, wrapping her arm around him too.

"He's scared." Cuyler repeated. "Scared that we'll send him away, scared of being cast out again."

"He chose to leave his old village." Helga interrupted. "He chose for that himself."

"To protect his dragon." Cuyler said as he pointed at Toothless. "That boy didn't have many options."

Helga was silent as she looked at Hiccup. "But honey, I need to wonder." She began, Cuyler turning his head towards her to show that he was listening. "What happened to drive this boy to leave with his dragon? To choose for the enemy over his own village?"

"I don't know honey." Cuyler said. "But he didn't leave without reasons." He said, and he was certain of it. "Nobody leaves without a reason." Cuyler added while looking at the boy and his Dragon.

"He isn't telling us everything." Helga said as she leaned her head on her husband's shoulder. "There are gaps in his tale."

"Give it time, love." Cuyler said as he gently rubbed his hand along her back. "Give him time to open up, and give him time to explain."

"How much time should I give him?" Helga asked, looking at her husband. "How much should we spend on this 'good feeling' of yours."

Cuyler chuckled softly at his wife's scepticism. "All the time it will need love." He said, earning an annoyed look from his spouse.

He gave her a soft kiss on her cheek. His beard tickling her skin. "Trust me on this one."

"Fine." Helga huffed softly, defeated. "But it'll also be your mess to clean up if it goes wrong." She said as she pointed at the fish basket. "They'll be on your hands."

Cuyler looked at the fish basked, food was dwindling, and the fishers had a hard time supplying the camp, let alone a dragon. It was true that if food did run out, they didn't have any rights for extras, since he would have wasted it on the strange boy.

"Now, sleep." Helga said with a calm and love-filled tone. "You'll need to work tomorrow."

"Can I trust you with him?" Cuyler asked jokingly. "Won't you smother him in his sleep?"

"Not with the dragon around." Helga joked back, giving her husband a quick kiss before sitting down next to the fire, putting another log onto the smouldering embers. She heard the wooden bed creak softly behind her as Cuyler laid down in it. And she could hear the blankets rustle as he pulled them over himself.

She looked at the boy, calmly sleeping in the embrace of the dragon. Would he help them? Would he bring more food and firewood so they could pull through the winter better? She didn't know. But she did know that if this continued, the blood of the group would be on their hands. Everyone knew where a big cut of the daily catch went, which left only a small portion to go to storage.

The stocks weren't rising quickly enough. Winter was approaching though, and it didn't look good.

"Help us." She whispered softly over the fire, hoping it would somehow reach the sleeping boy. "Prove me wrong." She said, which she really wanted. She wanted to believe the boy would help them. That he'd bring loads of fish, and supply them with amounts of wood they would never be able to imagine. But she simply couldn't. It sounded too good to be true. "I beg you." She said softly, before turning her attention towards the small log she had placed on the embers, which was starting to catch fire.

* * *

The sun creeped up on the horizon like a wolf upon unsuspecting prey. And then slowly peeked above it, lighting the world with the first rays of sunlight for the day. However, daylight didn't mean the start of the day. Not for the group of nomads. They rose even before the sunlight, when they could place torches in the water to attract fish. They'd come towards the shore in search of food and small prey, only to become it themselves.

The hunters had already set out, and Cuyler had left early again. Perhaps they could find a sleeping group of boars or deer. They'd be able to take full advantage of the sleepy animals.

Foresters had also begun their work, and the sound of their labour could be heard faintly in the camp. The axes and hatchets that cut into the wood, the saws that sawed the logs onto smaller parts, and finally the splitting axe that chopped it all into firewood.

Hiccup woke up from the sound of men and women dragging a log past their hut, heavy grunting and huffing evident as they used ropes to drag the long piece of tree towards the woodcutters.

His muscles were stiff, probably because of the way he had slept. Leaning against Toothless was comfortable, especially with a blanket and his paw around him. But after a full night sleep it was clear that it wasn't the best way to lie at night.

He stretched his arms, hearing a small croon from behind him. He turned looked at the origin of the sound, earning a playful nuzzle by the large dragon. Toothless had probably been awake for a while, but hadn't moved so Hiccup wouldn't wake up.

He petted his dragon calmly before stretching his arms, rolling his shoulder to get feeling back in everything after the night rest. He then stretched his legs, still feeling pressure in his ankle, but not so much pain.

He stood up, careful not to put pressure on his bad leg. Even if it felt good, he didn't want to overdo it. He stood straight, leaning on Toothless with one hand, his bad leg lifted from the ground. He slowly set it down, putting more and more pressure onto it until it was what it would normally be. He felt pain, but it didn't hurt. It was more a notification that it still wasn't fully healed then an indication that it was wrong.

He took a few steps, looking around the room. He could see Helga sitting on a bench, which they'd use to sleep on at night. She was cutting some kind of root, probably for lunch or dinner. She had her back turned to Hiccup, and was using the bench as cutting board.

"Helga, look." Hiccup said excited, he was happy that he could at least stand and walk again. "It's better."

Helga turned around, a smile growing on her lips when she saw Hiccup standing beside his dragon. She was glad for multiple reasons. It was always good to see someone heal from an injury, even a small one like a sprain or a bad bruise. But it also meant that he could help them, if he chose to do so.

"Great." She said genuinely. "But don't over-do it, it might come back if you stress it too much."

Hiccup looked at his leg, then back at Helga. "Is there something I can do? Now that my leg is better."

Helga let out a sigh of relieve, at least he'd help a bit. Perhaps Cuyler had been right all along, but she didn't want to get her hopes up. The boy had a lot of catching up to do if he wanted to get there stocks to where they would be if he never came, let alone if he really wanted to get them high enough for them to get through the winter calmly.

She thought deeply. "Do you think you'll be able to fly a bit?" She asked. "Your dragon is probably up for it, and it would be good training for your leg."

She could see a smile grow on Hiccup's face, and it warmed her to see the boy so happy. The dragon also recognised the word about flight, and his ears perked up accordingly. "That's a good tip Helga." Hiccup said as he turned to Toothless, grabbing the large dragon by the side of his head, looking him in the eyes. "You want to do some flying bud?" He asked, the dragon warbling excited.

"Be careful." Helga said as she saw Hiccup carefully walking towards the door. "And don't strain your leg too much."

"I won't." Hiccup said as he guided Toothless through the door, following quickly. The sun was soft, it had climbed a bit and now hung low on the horizon. Luckily it wasn't as intense as it would be in the summer. He hadn't been outside in a few days, instead staying in the hut, trying to help where he could. But mainly just resting.

Toothless didn't mind the long break. They had flown almost every day during the weeks before meeting the nomads. And even though he was a strong and healthy dragon that could easily fly incredible distances he still enjoyed the rest. He was slowly getting actious though, since not flying for a full week was a something he had only done once, and that was when he had just been shot down. To say the dragon longed for the sky would be an overstatement, but the reptile would agree that it would be nice to stretch his wings again, allowing them to glide on the winds.

They were greeted with a couple of stares. Most just curious this time, some surprised to see the boy and the dragon outside. That was because the boy had been inside the hut since the day they had arrived. He only left if the dragon went outside, to keep an eye on him and keep him in tow. Hiccup carefully climbed on Toothless, taking care not to strain his leg.

The dragon warbled happily as his riders connected the safety chords to the saddle. The Night Fury was getting excited, the outside air was much nicer than the inside of the hut to the dragon. Inside it smelled like sweat, filth and fire. Outside it smelled like grass, air and sea, it was way better.

"Easy bud." Hiccup said as the dragon looked around him excitingly. "Head that way." Hiccup said as he pointed towards the shore, where a couple of fish filled baskets stood next to some of the fishermen of the group. Toothless calmly strode over calmly, tail dragging over the ground behind him.

The fishermen looked curiously as the dragon approached with the boy on top. They quickly halted their conversation to turn their attention to the large beast and its rider. They stood in front of the filled baskets, since they had all heard about the apatite that the dragon had.

"Hi." Hiccup said awkwardly, earning a surprised look from some of the fishers. Nobody knew the boy well except Cuyler and Helga, but they didn't talk much about him. "You fish, right?"

"Yea." One of the fishermen said, a lean and tall man. "Name's Fiske." He added. He had dirty blonde hair that reached his shoulders. A simple braid kept most of it out of his face.

"Mine's Hiccup." Hiccup said calmly. "I was wondering if I could help with catching fish."

Now the fishermen really looked surprised. "Help?" Fiske asked curiously. "With fishing?"

"Yea." Hiccup said as he scratched his back. "Toothless is quite the fisher himself." He said as he patted the dragon. "If you have a net or something I could try to get him to swoop up a few."

The fishers looked at each other with sceptic looks. A dragon fishing for them, that sounded impossible, yet interesting. Fiske looked around before turning to Hiccup. "We might have an old net somewhere." He began. He wasn't going to risk the new and expensive nets on this. "Think that'll work?"

"It should." Hiccup said as he saw Fiske turn around and walk towards a small hut. He could hear materials and other stuff being replaced inside as he searched, and he eventually came out again with a net.

Well, net was doing it too much justice really. It was more a bundle of rope, filled with holes and covered in dried algae and other junk. Fiske dropped it on the ground, the other fishers nodding with approval. They didn't like the idea of wasting a new net either, and this one was almost ready to be scrapped and used for something else.

"Here you go lad." Fiske said as he kicked the net out. "Knock yourself out."

"Thanks." Hiccup said slowly as he looked at the net. There were a few holes large enough for fish to escape through, but he should have expected an older net. He just hadn't expected it to be this used. He grabbed a part of it and tied it to Toothless' saddle, getting him to drag it to a clear part of the beach.

The net looked heavy, but Toothless pulled it with little trouble. It was still tangled and tied in knots, but that was a problem Hiccup himself could easily work with. He observed the ball of netting in front of him, the many intertwining ropes making it difficult to immediately spot the way the nots were tied. But he soon noticed one of the weights on the corner, and decided that it was as good a start as any.

After some puzzling he had a second corner loose. It was sadly enough not clear if it was one of the adjacent ones or the opposite corner, but that would come soon enough. He first had other things to worry about. He untangled more and more pieces of the net, slowly laying it out on the rocky beach. Toothless looked with interest as the large ball of rope turned into a smaller, flatter version. The dragon had seen netting before. Sometimes pieces of it washed up on the shore, or it would see the nets be used in the heat of battle, being thrown over unsuspecting dragons to capture them.

Hiccup flattened the last part of the net, laying it out flat on the rocky beach. He stepped back to admire his work, and finally get a good look at the net. It indeed had quite a few holes in it, but he'd still be able to get a lot of fish with it. At least, that was what he hoped.

Fiske had stepped out of the water and had walked over towards him. "What's your plan?" He asked, a bit curious. He had fished for most of his life. But using a dragon to catch fish, that sounded way too difficult to be effective.

"I'm going to let Toothless stun the fish." Hiccup explained as he tied some of the loose strains of rope to fill the larger holes in the net. "Then we go back, grab the net and scoop them up with it."

Fiske looked at him dumbfounded. "You stun the fish?" He asked confused. "How do you do that?"

"Toothless shoots the surface where a school is." Hiccup explained as he gave the large dragon a scratch. "Apparently that's how Night Furies hunt, stunned fish float, just like dead ones."

Fiske made a mental note of this. If they managed to ever stun an entire school of fish they'd be able to quickly fill one or two baskets in no time. Perhaps the rumours he had heard were true after all.

Hiccup climbed onto Toothless, who stretched his wings impatiently. The dragon was itching to fly again, and Hiccup didn't mind it either. He calmly checked the saddle, earning interesting looks from the surrounding nomads. The nomads had never seen the boy and dragon fly. The of peace between Viking and dragon was strange, the idea of friendship was unlikely. But the idea of a Viking flying on dragon-back through the sky? That was unheard of.

But apparently the impossible would be made possible today. Toothless leaped into the air, careful to not do any strange or crazy manoeuvres. He didn't want to risk Hiccup straining his leg. They flew out to sea, both scanning the surface of the water for schools of fish. Through the past weeks, Hiccup had gotten better at it. Learning to spot the different colours that could indicate fish.

They flew for a while, carefully searching for a school of fish. Hiccup felt a bit nervous. He had to find that fish. These people had proven to be kind-hearted, to him and to Toothless. Sure, they were still a bit anxious about the dragon, but if he could prove himself and Toothless he was sure that would change.

The fishermen looked at the group with interest, leaving their work rest. They watched as the dragon and his rider pitched up, gaining altitude as they climbed in the sky. A simple roll send the duo diving back down towards the sea, and the fishermen could hear the faint whistle of the Night Fury's attack. Many of them had never heard the sound before, and this time it was far away. But it still send shivers down their spines.

They saw a soft flash of light, and then an explosion of water and mist on the surface. The dragon and its rider came flying out of that, heading back towards the shore. The fishermen walked towards the place where they thought he'd land, but Hiccup and Toothless had other ideas. They flew over, Toothless snatching the laid-out net as they swooped over.

The fishermen were left looking in awe as the dragon flew off with the net, heading back out to sea. And that all in the time it would have taken them to get a ship ready to begin with. Fiske walked over to a bunch of netting that they had dropped on the beach, sitting down on it. He was curious what the dragon would bring back.

He saw the dragon drop the net in the water, stopping its smooth and coordinated flight to hover over the net just above the water. The wings caused small clouds of vapor to form, and blinded them to see what the dragon was really doing.

Until it climbed again, carrying the net in his paws. The occasional fish was spilling from it because of the holes, so Toothless made sure to hurry back as quickly as he could. It wasn't easy for the dragon, the fish-filled net was heavy, and Night Furies were made for agility and speed more than brute force.

Fiske looked on with his mouth ajar as the two came back. The net was fuller then any single haul they would get from the shore. Sure, a ship could probably get more than such a haul in a single trip, but that trip would take a few days. Fiske and the other fishermen grabbed their baskets, waiting for the dragon to land.

Toothless waited until he felt the weight of the net lessen before dropping it, since it indicated that it had hit the ground. Once it had done that he let go of it. The net sagging in on itself. Fiske and another fisherman ran over, looking at the pile of fish.

The pile sagged, fish spilling all over the pebbles of the rocky beach. Twitching and flopping as they tried to find a way back to water, back into their natural habitat. Toothless landed next to the pile, looking at the pile with large eyes. He was fed the last couple of days, Hiccup would see to it, but not nearly as much as the dragon would have liked.

Hiccup noticed how the dragon started to lick his lips. "You can snack from the next haul buddy." He said as he the side of the dragon's neck. "We owe them this one." Toothless cooed sadly as he turned his head, looking at his rider with one of his eyes.

"Next one, I promise." Hiccup said as he looked at his dragon, the large green eyes shimmered with hope for fresh fish. The Night Fury stretched its wings. But before he could take off his rider slid of the back.

Fiske walked to Hiccup, shooting bewildered glances at the stack of fish. Behind him other Fishermen were busy putting the fish into baskets, they'd have to get it cured and cleaned soon, so it would stay fresh longer. Fiske walked over to Hiccup, grabbing the hand of the young boy with two hands and shaking it gratefully.

"You're a gift from the gods boy." The man said with joy as he shook Hiccup's hand and laughed. "If you could catch this amount of fish each day then we'd never run out of food."

Hiccup chuckled nervously. He was glad he could help, but hadn't expected such a response from the fisher. "Yea, well, a dragon is quite the stomach to fill." He said. "So it's only natural that they are quite the fishers, I guess."

"You can say that again." Fiske said with excitement as he patted Hiccup on the back. The other fishermen were almost done filling their baskets, counting four in total already. "Say, how about we leave that old broken net here to dry and we try one of the larger ones?" Fiske said as he guided Hiccup towards the place where most nets were laid out to dry. "We got one that is at least two times as big."

Hiccup looked at the netting, and indeed spotted a net in way better condition than the net he just used, but it was also much larger. "I'm not sure if Toothless can handle that." He said with a hint of worry. "Besides the size, it may become too heavy filled with fish and all."

Fiske looked at him, then looked back at the net. "Perhaps." He said softly. "And it would probably be too much fish to cure anyway, which will cause many to go to waste." He added, using one hand to scratch at the side of his head. "Still." He muttered softly, deep in though.

Toothless walked up to Hiccup, giving him a gentle nudge in his side, propping his head underneath the boy's arm. Fiske looked at the Night Fury with a warm smile. The strange feeling about the beast being so close was replaced quickly by a feeling of gratefulness, and the dragon didn't look threatening at all right now. Its head tucked underneath the arm of the boy, eyes that begged for attention and love, and a slightly ajar mouth, showing a smile vacant of teeth.

"Boy, ah, Hiccup," Fiske began. "how long do you plan on staying exactly?" Fiske asked out of the blue, catching Hiccup off guard.

"Ah, well." Hiccup started, not even sure of the answer himself. "Toothless and I ate some of your food and shared some of your fires, so it's only natural to, eh, you know, make up for it."

Fiske smiled. "Boy, one more of those loads and you'll have yourself paid off for the food." He said as he rested an arm on Hiccup's shoulder. "Even that dragon of yours." The larger man kneeled down to get on his level.

"Look boy, food might not be in short supply now, especially if you make one of these catches every day." Fiske explained, behind him the other fishermen were bringing the baskets to the fires where they cured the fish. "But come winter, we're going to need a lot more."

Hiccup looked at the fisherman with questioning eyes. He felt like he was building up to something. Fiske was silent as he looked at the kid. It took a while before he finally spoke again. "Never mind." He said with a smile. "Let's see if we can get that net clean for a second haul."

* * *

The morning continued calmly, as the fishermen returned from the curers with empty baskets another pile of fish was ready to be taken there. They loaded their baskets excitedly, and one even talked about getting a small cart for the next time they returned.

Hiccup felt strange. Back on Berk he had tried to help plenty of times, some attempts more successful than others. But here it was different. His attempts were greeted with enthusiasm, one of the fish hauls he took in failed, the net snapping on the way back. It caused all the fish to fall back into the sea, quickly finding their freedom. A few seams between two existing holes in the netting had teared, causing one large hole to form. Hiccup landed with dread, but the fishermen weren't that fazed.

Fiske walked up to the nervous boy with a smile. "That's why we gave you the old net!" He said with a smile as he inspected the large hole in the net. He looked at Hiccup. "We'll get this fixed." He walked over to the boy on the back of the dragon, laying his hand on his leg. "Boy, we have more fish then we can cure for now, and it'd be a shame to let it start rotting over the course of the day and night."

"You don't need any more help?" Hiccup asked nervously, still tense about the broken net.

"Boy, you helped more than anything." Fiske said. "We've been fishing since the end of the winter, now we actually have to help curing the catch we made." He said with a laugh, the fisher was truly overjoyed. "Why don't we go and look by the woodcutters." He proposed. "We're going to need some materials for extra drying racks anyway."

Fiske immediately turned around, and started walking. He only looked behind him after a few steps, motioning Hiccup to follow. "Come on, maybe you and that dragon, ah, Toothless, can help there."

That idea interested Hiccup, and he motioned Toothless to follow, calmly riding on the back of the dragon. They passed through the village, people again looking at the boy and dragon with faces of bewilderment, it was still a curious sight after all. But some of the people had heart the news of the successful fishing, and instead looked at the duo with smiles.

"Seems like the word already passed around to some." Fiske said happily. "If you keep up this work you'll be famous around here."

Hiccup didn't respond. He was awestruck by the people around him, smiling, waving, laughing friendly when they saw him. It was amazing. He was helping these people when they most needed it, and it felt amazing.

The camp cleared around them, and they arrived at the area where he had first entered the camp with Cuyler. A cleared-out part of the forest, trees cut down and the stumps used at cutting blocks for firewood. A good twenty Vikings were working hard, dragging, sawing and cutting wood for it to become firewood. Skinning trees of the bark and twigs, throwing it on the pile for tinder.

Hiccup was amazed at the simple yet efficient system. A little less than two dozen of Vikings were working here, and others were bringing in trees and gathering random debris that was left by the work. Back on Berk it wasn't strange for the twigs and bark to be scattered around a working place, after all, the firewood had priority. But here every single bit of wood was used, not a single piece was left behind. It was all needed.

A man walked over to the duo, looking and spoke to Fiske. "Eh, Fiske." He greeted the fisherman. "What are you doing over here, need wood for poles?"

"No, I am actually looking for wood for drying racks." The fisherman says with a smile as he placed his hand on Hiccup's leg. "This boy here has made sure we're already done for the day." Fiske said, causing a smile to grow on Hiccup's face.

"He didn't break the nets now, did he?" The woodcutter asked with a stern expression, causing Hiccup's smile to drop. Some people could be just like the ones on Berk he guessed, no good expectations.

"Ha, you wish." Fiske replied gleefully though. "The boy here caught three days' worth of fish in a single morning." He said. "We don't know if we can cure it all before it rots."

"Really?" The woodcutter said surprised as he looked at the boy. "I guess Cuyler really brought back a wondrous kid then."

"Best thing yet." Fiske continued. "He's looking to help more." The fisherman explained as he grabbed some suitable pieces of wood from a nearby pile. "You don't suppose you can find a job for him here."

"I'll see what I can do." The woodcutter said as he picked up a piece of wood and handed it to Fiske. "Good luck with that fish."

"Thanks." Fiske said happily. "We'll be needing it." The fisherman turned around and walked off.

The woodcutter turned himself to Hiccup, who was still perched on the back of Toothless. He looked at the kid, he was scrawny, and looked weaker than most kids. But on the other had he had a dragon, one who listen to him at that. So he had to be special somehow he guessed.

"I'm Arthur." The woodcutter said, and Hiccup took a good look at the men. He reminded him of his father. He was quite a bit smaller, but as broad as him. And his beard was almost the same size. "I try to oversee this little logging camp here." He said as he turned around and motioned for Hiccup to follow.

Toothless calmly walked after Arthur. Hiccup calmly looked around, still listening to Arthur's explanation. "We cut most, if not all, of the group's firewood." Hiccup looked at a man sitting on a trunk, who was getting his arm wrapped in a sling, Arthur noticed. "I'm not going to lie, it's dangerous and hard work." He explained. "Tall trees, and very poor tools."

He looked at one of the other woodcutters, who was busy chopping the wood to make it into usable firewood. The axe he held looked worn, the axe head looked blunt and deformed, and the handle looked like it could shatter at any swing.

"My pa was a woodcutter too you know." Arthur explained as he continued to walk. "Used to tell me stories about dragons that could split trees with their head." He explained. "Or level forests with their wings." He chuckled. "I don't suppose you're one can do such a feat eh?"

"Eh, no." Hiccup said softly. "Toothless here is pretty good at dragging branches though."

Arthur looked at the dragon. "How do you think you can help us lad?" He asked Hiccup.

"I used to be a smith's apprentice." He explained. "I could try to repair your tools, perhaps make new ones."

"Boy, our own smith is over there." Arthur said as he pointed at a middle-aged man, dragging a log towards the sawing Vikings with three others. "We don't have the proper forge, let alone materials to fix our tools."

"What about those dragons?" Hiccup said. "The ones who can cut and chop?"

The man turned to face Hiccup, one eyebrow raised. "The ones my pa told me about?" He asked, earning a nod from Hiccup. "What about them?"

"I think I know which ones he meant." He said. "Maybe we can find one, and train it." He said, his eyes shining.

"He, if you can find me one of those dragons who is willing to help us, then go ahead." Arthur said, he understood that the boy couldn't help here. The woodcutting was too dangerous for a kid anyway. And the dragon, although impressive, was better suited for fishing. "Otherwise it might be smarter to just go fishing with him again." Arthur said as he pointed to Toothless.

Hiccup looked at the large bulky man as he turned around and walked away. It felt just like his father, the disappointment he always carried when Hiccup couldn't perform to his expectations.

He'd prove him wrong.

* * *

Cuyler came back late in the evening with Heather, the young girl carried a dead rabbit, and Cuyler carried another three. The wanted to give them to the butcher to get it cured, only to find him working on fish.

"What is this then?" Cuyler asked surprised. "A change of occupation?"

The butcher turned around, looking at Cuyler's catch. "Ah, Cuyler. It's that boy you found, he's a true gods' gift." The man explained. "He caught enough fish to have me, the fishermen and their wives curing the catch since this morning. And we're only halfway."

"He caught so much fish?" Cuyler asked surprised.

"Aye, and then he went to help the woodcutters I think." The butcher explained. "Boy's willing to help everywhere." The man turned to Cuyler, who was sporting a large smile. The feeling he had with the boy appeared to be right. "Leave the rabbits here." The butcher said as he pointed to a bench. "I'll do them after this one, and here." He continued, tossing Cuyler two fishes and Heather one. "Some extra, and one for the beast of that boy of yours'."

Cuyler looks at the fish, it wasn't often a catch was so good to merit extra rations. He quickly thanked the butcher, and headed back home. When they came back, Helga was already keeping a moderate fire going inside the hut, making it ready for cooking.

"Hello dear," Cuyler said as he came in. "We've got some extra's for tonight's dinner." Helga looked at him in surprise, but quickly spotted the three fish her husband and daughter were carrying. "Apparently Hiccup pulled in a boat load today."

Helga raised an eyebrow, surprised, perhaps even relieved. "Did he now?" She says as she walks over to her husband, taking the fish and placing them on a bench. "I'll prepare them in a bit."

She looks at her daughter, who was carrying the other fish with two hands. It was a rather large one. "This one's for Toothless." Heather said proudly. "They wanted to thank him as well."

Helga forced a smile on her face. She didn't like how fond everyone had grown of the boy in such a short time, it didn't sit right with her. "Really, well, why don't you put it down at his regular resting spot." Helga said. "I'm sure he'll love it when he comes back."

Cuyler looked at Helga confused. "He's not back yet?" He asked.

"No." Helga said calmly. "He went out this morning, to see if he could help." She explained. "I told him to be careful with his leg."

Helga turned to the fish, starting the work on preparing them for a proper meal. She threw the scrap into a pot with boiling water that rested on the fire, they'd be able to make stew out of that. The days were steadily becoming longer and colder. And simple yet warm meals like stew would soon become more regular meals.

It wasn't long before the gutted fish was roasting above the fire. The skin of the animals slowly drying and turning into a crispy golden-brown cover of the meat. She watched the fish slowly roast, turning it occasionally to allow the heat to properly scorch the entire fish. From the corner of her eye she noticed Cuyler looking at the fish with a worried expression.

"What's the matter honey?" Helga asked. "You're looking at the fish like they are poisonous."

Cuyler sighed, looking up from the food and turning his gaze to his wife. "Where is Hiccup?" He asked, not expecting an answer. "Why isn't he back yet."

"Maybe he's still helping at the woodcutters." Helga said as she looked at her husband, that was his hope., his vision of the boy. The helpful little kid with the dragon, who would give them firewood and food for the winter. Her guess of the boy's location was different though. She turned her gaze back to the food. "Or perhaps he's flown off." She said. "Figured he'd repay us with some food and continue on."

Cuyler looked at his wife, deep in though. But then turned his gaze to the fire as well.

* * *

Near an island further north, Hiccup and Toothless were calmly soaring through the sky. The duo gently flying around the thick woodlands that occupied the island, seeing if they could spot any dragons. The evening was calm, and the sun was almost setting. Hiccup was thinking about returning, but instead chose to keep looking.

He'd prove him wrong.

"Come on bud." He said to Toothless, who was looking around the island as well as Hiccup. "We're looking for a Timberjack, or a Hackatoo." He remembered them from the book of dragons. The Timberjack wouldn't be difficult if they were here, the dragons were huge, and could often be traced back to partially destroyed forests, with large patches of trees cleanly cut at a fixed height.

Hackatoos were mainly a mystery to him though. The book of dragons didn't have much information about them. Only that they have sharp, strong, axe-like snouts that they can use to cut trees. Hiccup sighed as he sat in the saddle, it would be difficult to find the dragon. They had passed three other islands already. And he had guessed he wouldn't find the dragon on the island the nomads lived on.

He motioned Toothless to descend. The Night Fury calmly glided downwards, searching for an open spot between the trees to safely land. Hiccup yawned from the dragon's back. Perhaps they should sleep here tonight. He looked around, and noticed that there was a patch in the foliage where they could land, some sort of clearing.

Toothless steered towards the opening and descended further, slowing down as they neared the ground. Hiccup could now see that it was not a natural clearing. The only reason that this part of the forest wasn't covered in trees was because they were covering the ground, they were rudely cut at the bases, some right above the ground, some a bit higher.

"Bingo." Hiccup muttered silently as he steered Toothless in further, landing in the open spot. He can now clearly see the trees which almost looked they were cut down by axes, only larger and sharper than regular axes.

A deep, muffled roar breaks his concentration. Toothless looks at him, Hiccup swallows. "Let's see what that was." He says from the back of his dragon, and Toothless calmly starts walking towards the trees, towards the origin of the sound.

The sun slowly disappeared behind the treelines as they walked. Toothless' ears twitched and scanned around, trying to pick up the roar again. It was quiet though. The forest only emitting the sound of trees brushing against each other and the wind. He didn't hear dragons, he didn't hear animals. Nothing.

But then they could hear the roar again. Louder, but still muffled. Toothless perched his ears upright, homing in on the origin of the sound. It was a dragon, that much was certain. The dragon continued to walk calmly and carefully. Hiccup dodged a branch as he sat on the dragon's back. He had learned his lesson about swatting branches away, he preferred ducking away now.

Toothless' ears twitched, and Hiccup sat silently on his back. He leaned forward, whispering to his dragon. "Do you hear him bud?" He asked the Night Fury. The dragon let out a soft moan, a confirmation to his rider. The dragon knew where the sound was coming from.

They continued walking, and soon Hiccup could see the trees starting to clear again. It was a similar clearing as the one they landed in, and he was surprised they hadn't seen this one yet. Before they broke though the treeline they heard the roar again. Clearer this time.

It was strange, the roar was deep and powerful, but also sounded obstructed. Hiccup motioned toothless to slow down and be careful as they stepped into the clearing. Darkness completely covering the forest as they did. Luckily their eyes had the time to accommodate to the low light levels as they walked through the forest. And a clear moon allowed for good eyesight at night.

In the clearing, with it back turned towards them, was a medium sized dragon. It was almost the size of a Monstrous Nightmare, but its skin was dark brown. It had dark red patched scattered across it, like an autumn forest. Toothless made a curious noise, alerting the dragon to their presence. The body moved sideways, revealing a large amber-coloured eye with a small black slit. It gazed at the duo, flicking between Hiccup and Toothless.

The dragon was strange, but Hiccup recognized it quickly from the book of dragons. Six legs, and small wings compared to the body. A strong, but slender body, with spikes on the back. At the start of the tail the dragon had sharp spikes as well, jutting sideways on the top half of the tail, but the bottom was long and sleek, devoid of fins and spikes.

The head was curious, the eye looking at the duo nervously. The snout of the dragon was a silver, metallic colour. But most of it was obstructed by a tree that the head was lodged in. "A Hackatoo," Hiccup muttered. He was in awe by the creature. It looked so powerful and strong. He wasn't sure if the metallic part of his head was actual iron or some sort of bone, but he knew he wanted to find out.

The creature roared again. And Hiccup could see the smoke seeping from the beast's mouth. But the sounds were still muffled. The head of the dragon was lodged in a large and old tree. Causing a split from hallway up the tree all the way down, but it was still strong enough to trap the large dragon's snout in it.

Hiccup slid off Toothless, the Night Fury making a worried sound as his rider did. Hiccup carefully walked around the Hackatoo, making sure to stay in clear sight of its eye and away from any parts that might be able to hit him. He could see how the dragon's eye looked around piratically, almost panicked. Toothless looked at the dragon with narrowed eyes, but his rider kept his calm.

At least it looked that way. Inside Hiccup heart raced like a maniac. He blinked often, and felt his breathing becoming shallow. He was now almost around the Hackatoo, nearing the tree in which the beast was stuck. The Hackatoo's eye, which had been focussed on the alerted Night Fury suddenly switched back to Hiccup. Smoke seeping from the beast's mouth again.

But the stance of the dragon changes when it saw the recoil in the boy. He noticed how the young Viking stopped walking, and kept his arms wide, allowing the dragon to look at his full body. The kid was small, tiny even perhaps. Compared to regular Vikings at least.

But the Hackatoo was far from at ease. With its head stuck tightly in the tree he was nearly defenceless for trappers or predators. It dug its feet into the ground and gave a hard pull backwards, hoping to dislodge its head, but to no avail.

Hiccup watched as the dragon tried, but it almost seemed like the tree didn't budge at all. Perhaps the dragon had bitten of more than he could chew on this one. He looked at the tree. The gap was about an arm width broad, and two deep. Perhaps he could find some sort of way to widen it just a bit, or at least relieve pressure on the cutting head of the Hackatoo.

He stepped closer to the dragon, keeping his hands raised and clear in sight. He was certain that the Hackatoo was anxious, perhaps even scared, but this was perhaps his best chance to get some sort of connection with the dragon.

The dragon growled again, but Hiccup noticed that its eye switched away from him again. He looked behind him, noticing that Toothless, taking a gentle, and peaceful approach to the dragon, was walking up behind him. The Night Fury had its teeth retracted, and was making soft, sad noised from the back of its throat. The Hackatoo quickly switched his gaze to Hiccup, who was not a few steps away from the dragon's head.

"Hey there buddy," Hiccup began softly, hoping talking would calm the wild dragon down. "Are you stuck." As if on que, the Hackatoo shook and pulled, trying to get his head free from the trapped position. Hiccup looked at it, but because of the Hackatoo's long neck, he was well clear of the body of the dragon.

Hiccup calmly extended his hand towards the dragon, making sure the large beast had ample time to inspect the hand. A puff of smoke seeped from the mouth of the dragon, but far less than before. The amber eye scanned the hand carefully, flicking between looking at the young boy and his hand. Hiccup slowly stepped forward. He would have to close the distance himself, since the dragon was stuck.

He placed the hand on the cheek of the dragon, right behind where the mouth began. The skin was warm, hot even. He gently moved his thumb, patting the dragon. "It's alright." He said calmly. The eyes of the Hackatoo slowly shut. "We'll get you out of there." Hiccup said as he looked at the split in the tree from up close. He could probably use a large and strong piece of wood as a lever, and use that to get the dragon loose.

The night passed calmly, Toothless and Hiccup searched for proper piece of wood to use, but the first three branches they tried simple shattered as they applied force. Eventually they expanded their search area, already covering a part of the coast of the island.

They had been searching the entire night, and Hiccup was slowly starting to get tired. He yawned from the back of Toothless as they passed over the coast. But then the duo spotted a stranded, and almost destroyed longboat. Hiccup slowly shifted his foot, the moment wasn't as crisp and fast as it usually was. The sleep was creeping up on him.

They landed next to the longboat, or what was left from it. Hiccup looked around. There was a net, covered in algae, but otherwise in good shape. He slid off Toothless' back, walking over to the remnants of the boat. The net was small, similar to the one he and Toothless had used when they were fishing. He grabbed it, along with some rigging that was left around the boat, and used it to tie the bundle of net to the saddle.

He looked at the ship. The shield on the side were weathered and had large cracks between the planks. The sails had weathered away, but the mast still stood. Hiccup looked at it, the lack of sleep even making simple thinking more difficult. Mast were made to be strong, made to be able to take the force of the strong Nordic storms pulling on the sails. It would be the perfect lever.

"Toothless." Hiccup said as he walked towards his dragon. "Do you think you can blast the mast off?" The young rider asked his dragon. The Night Fury looked at the mast, let out a soft huff, and fired a small plasma ball at the old mast. Hiccup shielded himself from the explosion, felling splinters being flung against his back.

He turns around, seeing that the mast still stands. But a scorched hole is near the base. With a long crack, the mast starts to fall, heading towards Toothless and Hiccup. It snaps from its base and landing in front of Toothless with a thud.

Toothless calmly trots over, grabbing the remainder of the mast in his mouth, like a dog holding a large stick. Hiccup walks back to his dragon, climbing onto his back. "Let's head back to the Hackatoo." He said as he switched the tailfin. "Let's see if this one holds."

The flight back was slow. Toothless has trouble gaining altitude with the mast in his mouth and the net on his back. But they made it back. They landed in the clearing where the Hackatoo was stuck. It was still dark, so Hiccup and Toothless made sure to land carefully. The Hackatoo was almost asleep when they returned, but opened his amber eyes to look at them as they landed.

Hiccup quickly untied the netting from Toothless' back, they'd grab it again when they finally headed back. First they had to get the Hackatoo free. Hiccup slid off Toothless' back, taking care to land on his good foot. His leg felt fine that morning, but now it was slowly starting to act up again.

"Let's do this bud." Hiccup said as he motioned for Toothless to place the mast in the crack of the tree. They had done this three times already, so Toothless knew exactly what Hiccup expected. The Hackatoo laid down on the ground, his neck in an awkward position. Toothless used one paw on the Hackatoo's back to get just high enough, and Hiccup guided the mast in the split. Once confident that the mast was in position he turned to the Hackatoo, petting him on the chin.

"Get ready buddy." He said calmly as he walked over to the other side, where Toothless stood ready with the mast in his mouth. He walked over to the part where he could just reach the mast. He wasn't sure if he'd help at all, but it was worth a shot.

"Now Toothless!" Hiccup said. "Pull!" He added, ad he himself pushed in the same direction. Toothless pulled with his might, his claws sunken into the ground. They could hear cracking and splintering of wood, and Hiccup hoped that for once it was the tree.

The lodged dragon pulled as well, trying to get its head free. It pulled with all it's might, just like the Night Fury. Hiccup felt his boots sink into the muddy ground as he pushed, and his arm start to tire after the long day. The mast was almost too high for him to effectively push against, but he managed. With a loud crack he felt the mast give way, and stumbled forward. Toothless was also surprised by the sudden lack of resistance, and the dragon fell backwards, the other half of the mast still in his mouth.

Hiccup pushed himself from the ground, looking at his dragon. The Night Fury spat the remaining mast out, his teeth marks visible in the hard wood. Hiccup sighed, feeling defeated.

Until he heard a load, deep, unmuffled roar from behind him. He turned around, looking at the Hackatoo. The dragon was free, standing on its two hind legs, roaring into the sky. It shot a fireball up into the sky, which exploded fiercely. Illuminating the forest for a few seconds.

Hiccup let out a sigh of relief, and Toothless roared along with the Hackatoo. The dragon was as glad as Hiccup that they managed to free the other dragon.

With a heavy thud the Hackatoo landed back on all six feet, and turned its head to Hiccup. The dragon calmly stepped over, resting his neck on the boy's shoulder. The neck was warm, not as hot as the cheek, but still warm. The large dragon let out a soft sigh, and Hiccup wrapped an arm around the neck as far as he could.

The Hackatoo stepped back, allowing the young boy to stand up, looking at him expectantly. Hiccup stepped towards the dragon, looking into its eyes. He placed his hand on the hot cheek again, finding it cooler than before. "See buddy." He said calmly. "I told you I'd get you out of there." He patted the dragon gentle.

Hiccup stepped back, walking over to Toothless again, and guided the Night Fury to the netting. But before he reached it the Hackatoo had arrived with heavy stomping, the dragon picked up the bundle of net with its front two feet, standing on the other four. It flapped it's wings anxiously.

Hiccup looked at the dragon as the sky began to turn a lighter colour. The sun was rising again. He sighed, perhaps it wouldn't be so difficult to get a new dragon to the camp of the nomads. "Do you want to follow?" He asked the dragon, earning a confused but lopsided head from the Hackatoo.

Now that it stood on its back paws Hiccup could see that the dragon could actually be rather large and intimidating. It looked down at them from above, its head perched high above the torso and long neck of the dragon.

Toothless looked up as well, a soft, curious growl exiting his mouth. Hiccup patted his dragon and climbed onto the saddle. "Calm down bud," Hiccup said to the Night Fury. "If he follows us home we might be able to keep him."

* * *

 **AN: Going to cut it off there. The middle part of this chapter has been difficult to write. As in, everything from Hiccup waking up and walking to him talking to the woodcutters. And I'm not really proud of the part either. But I really like the Hackatoo part, always wanted to get one of those dragons involved in the story. So here it is. Next chapter we'll see if the dragon truly follows them home, and how the tribe reacts.**

 **If I had the time, inspiration or willpower to do more at the middle part of this chapter I would. But you guys deserve an update. And I finally have inspiration to write. So I don't want to waste it all on this chapter. I really want to continue the story. And we're slowly going to the parts for which I'm really excited. So I hope I can share that with you in the coming month.**

 **The writing style might seem strange throughout this chapter, I'm really working to get back into it and feel like I caught something right at the end of the chapter.**

 **I want to give a guess for how often I'll update. But I'm afraid I can't promise anything. So, hopefully I'll manage every two weeks or something like that.**

 **This chapter is almost 10.000 words. Around 4.000 I was having seconds thoughts and struggeling. But it picked up again.**

 **I updated my profile again, last time was febuary last year, so it was about time. There are a few story prompts and a few other things, could be interesting to check out if you feel like it.**

 **Anyway, if you have questions or just want to chat, send me a PM. Feedback or something to say, leave a review.**

 **Take care!**

 **R4y**


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